


With the Flow

by SailyeX



Category: DanPlan
Genre: Daniel Lim & Hosuh Lee - Freeform, Daniel Lim & Stephen Ng - Freeform, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Slice of Life, Slight Daniel Lim/Jay Ko, Slight Hosuh Lee/Stephen Ng, so far it's happy endings?, the boys living together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-01-30 04:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21422452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailyeX/pseuds/SailyeX
Summary: Maybe moving in together would be the best idea they had.. or the worst.Or,A series of perspectives from living together.
Comments: 30
Kudos: 111





	1. The Suggestion

The buttery light that illuminates the living room is watering down as dusk sets in. Hosuh should turn the lights on, but the darkness slipping in hasn't bothered him yet. Rather, there's a tranquility that comes with it that he finds himself fond of. Since he's alone right now, he need not to and decides to bask in it instead.

Boxes littered the corners of the room, stacked up appropriately as they'd only just started to settle in. _Finally_, he thinks, a pool of warmth in his stomach lifts a smile on his face.

He squats down in the middle of the barren room, feeling the soft fibres of the carpet he had brought from his place because he thought it'll look great in their living room. And it did, it does match the aesthetic he was hoping for. A coffee table would be placed at where he's at, but Dan is responsible for that and he doesn't know when it'll come in.

Hosuh slits the medium-sized box open with a finger and falls backward after realising how taxing squatting was. A couch behind him saved his fall, a couch he and Daniel had to painstakingly move in. Hosuh glance down to the floor, there is a smudge mark where Dan had not too gently dropped the couch down after they finally moved it into position.

_ "God Daniel, ruining the floor before we can even spend a night here," Stephen said behind them in exasperation as he put a stack of boxes down. Breathless, Dan and Stephen started bickering while Hosuh surrendered flat on the ground, panting at the brutal workout. _

Hosuh chuckles at the memory.

He slips a hand into the hollow box and fishes out its contents. Its old photographs, Polaroids films to be exact. It's a photo of them when they were younger.

Scanning the film, he tries to figure out the exact moment this friendship first sprouted.

Was it in middle school? No, he corrects himself, High school. That's right, it wasn't that long ago, but it feels like a lifetime.

_ Einstein said time is relative right? _ It's funny how his friends managed to make him watch movies that he's able to quote them now. _A few of them anyway._

Looking around the room, Hosuh smiles to himself. This is going to be his new living room. His new _ home_.

He could hardly believe it. They were having fun recording a video on a Friday night and had ended up staying over at Daniel's place. An unplanned sleepover, but Daniel had plenty of room and clothes to spare. Stephen was reluctant but Daniel ignored him completely, tossed their merch at both Stephen and his faces and told them to shut up and wear them to sleep.

The morning after, Dan had tried to sneak away but had accidentally waked him in the process. Apparently, Dan wanted to surprise them with breakfast and he offered to help.

It was nice. Dan, humming as he prepares a salad while he concentrates on cooking the bacon. By the time Stephen got up, the meal could almost count as brunch.

There they were, eating their meal together when Dan made the suggestion. "We should move in together," Dan said in between slips of his iced tea.

Hosuh balked. Move in together? The three of them living under the same roof? The thought itself was exhilarating, and dizzying. He lets out an awkward laugh, "Dan... that's..."

"As if I want to move in with you," Stephen cuts in, "I can barely stand seeing your face for an hour, let alone for an _entire_ day."

"Now why would you be looking at my face for an entire day?" Dan smirked at him, resulting in a piece of the salad flying across towards the green-hair male. Dan retaliated by flinging food back while Hosuh imagines the what ifs.

What if living together ends up a challenge, and it breaks their friendship? But they'd roomed together before, even back when they went to Vidcon together. It was fine, one of the most memorable experiences Hosuh has had, even.

Stephen must have worn Daniel down after all that fighting because Dan finally turned to him and prodded him out of his silence. "Come on Hosuh, we gotta convince Stephen." As if he had agreed to it, though.. It wasn't a bad idea.

But as if it is that simple!

Dan wiped his hand with a napkin and gave Hosuh a reassuring pat that pushed him to lean forward. "Uhm..." He starts, "I think it'll be really nice living together, Stephen," Hosuh glanced down at his twiddling fingers and to Stephen's face.

To his surprise, it was that simple.

Over the next few days, Dan was determined to find a place, excitedly pointing out apartments that he deemed is perfect for them by shoving his laptop screen in their faces.

In all honesty, both Stephen and he didn't make it easy for Daniel, but Dan managed to pull through and found a decent place not far from their old high school.

The prospect of the whole thing didn't seem real until they actually visited the house itself. There were four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an extra room they can use for recording or leisure, and even a small yard outside. Best yet, the kitchen was the most furnish. Needless to say, they all took a liking to it.

Pooling in their money, they did the necessary work and got the apartment keys. As they held the silver metal in their hand, they could hardly speak for awe and joy. Even Stephen was speechless.

Over the past few weeks, they have been steadily moving their belongings in. It was just yesterday when they went grocery shopping together to stock up their fridge. Until now, it feels so surreal.

He didn't notice when the front door open or when someone approaches. Heck, he didn't even notice when the cushion of the couch dipped until a leg bumped into his shoulder.

"Stephen!" Hosuh exclaims. Stephen prises the photograph from his fingers and held it above his eye level, leaning back into the couch as he does so.

Stephen's eyelashes are brushing against his lower eyelid as he looks at the photo. He looks worn out. Probably had a long day at school, Hosuh notes.

"Now why are you sitting in the dark looking at this?" Stephen asks, not looking away from the film. "Are you going to turn sappy? Because I'm starving and I don't feel like having something sweet for dinner."

Hosuh reaches back and shoves Stephen's arm playfully. Stephen cracks a small smile as he gets up with the help of Stephen's knee and he dusts his hands.

"I'll make you something," Hosuh tells him as he strolls into the kitchen.

Stephen lowers his arm and shifts himself up. "Really? We could just order—"

"What do you want for dinner?" Hosuh yells from the kitchen, ignoring the suggestion.

"Asian!" Stephen says with a grin.

"Wha- What the heck? Uh.. I'll try..." Stephen hears Hosuh say.

Laughing quietly, Stephen leans back into the couch and dips his chin down to look at the photograph, it's them with their arms connected around their shoulders.

They have really gone a long way of being highschool friends to being housemates huh.

Placing the film next to him, he picks his bag off the floor and searches his belongings when Daniel announces his arrival, way louder than he did.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Daniel asks, switching the lights on.

Stephen hides the polaroid behind his back, knowing damn well the green-hair male would gush about something in the picture and he doesn't want to listen to him talk about something that'll probably lead to a video idea along the way. He is tired from school as it is.

It'll reveal itself sooner or later anyway.

Daniel comes and goes like his entrances. The greenette settle himself next to Stephen for a bit, making small talk, before going into the kitchen to greet Hosuh and then retreating into his room. Stephen only brings the polaroid back out when he hears the shower going behind his friend's door, moving back to the task at hand.

Stephen was unpacking the other boxes when Daniel decides to come back out with a loud grunt as he stretches.

"Hey, have you seen any of my hard disks in any of those boxes?" Daniel asks next to him. "No," Stephen says deadpan as he put the hard disk back into the box.

Dan snatches it back and shakes his head towards him, releasing droplets off his hair onto the squatting male.

"What the heck! Stop it, you dog" Stephen pushes Daniel's head away and considers strangling him with the strings of Daniel's hoodie.

"Dinner is ready guys," Hosuh removes his apron as he walks into the living room.

The smell of food coming from the kitchen is delightful and Stephen remembers how hungry he was. Daniel must have been too, because,

"Oh thank god, I love you Hosuh!" Dan throws himself onto Hosuh and purposely nuzzles his head on the shorter male's neck to wipe his damp hair.

Stephen pulls Daniel back by the hood. "That's not how you thank someone you wet dog."

"Ugh Gross! Dan!" Hosuh laughs and wipes his neck with the apron. He leads the two into the kitchen to grab their plate of food.

They're now seated in the living room, using empty boxes as a makeshift table. They haven't set up a television yet, so Daniel brought his laptop out to play _ Markiplier's Try Not To Laugh Challenges _ videos while they have their dinner. So far, none of them even made a snicker.

"So you dirt, when is the coffee table gonna come?" Stephen asks as he scoops his rice. Dan makes a short awkward laugh, "Okay, I promise it'll be here by next Thursday,"

Stephen chokes, "It's _Friday_," he emphasises, "We gotta wait for an entire week?!" Hosuh pushes a glass of water towards him, tossing a glance at Daniel as well.

"Hey let's be optimistic, at least we have each other? We can take this as a bonding moment," Daniel laughs as Stephen threatens to hit him with his spoon.

Hosuh sighs and returns his attention towards the laptop in front. Just then, he notices something on the wall. It takes a moment before his eyes manage to focus on it. Suddenly, he is keenly aware of everything and he feels giddy and an intense sense of rapture overflow in him.

"—ou're so garbage Daniel oh my god."

Hosuh laughs and it breaks the string of curses Stephen has for Daniel.

"Hey, you lost the challenge," Daniel nudge him with his elbow, a bright smile plastered on his face.

Hosuh looks at his friends, and where he is now, and is convinced that maybe, this is a great idea after all.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it to the end of this chapter  
Thank you so much for reading it all the way to the end. Personally, I really like Stosuh and Jaydan, but I'm trying to keep their relationship platonic. Still, I welcome you guys to take this and the following stories however you like.
> 
> Godspeed
> 
> Note, I publish my drafts on Wattpad and post them here after I deem them alright enough. If you've read them there..  
I apologise... They're terrible.


	2. The Suggestion (Stephen's POV)

School _ sucks_. Stephen forces his eyes to stay wide open as the lecturer drawl over the topic of the day.

_ God, if you're going to hold a lecture, at least make it interesting. _

Grumpy as he was, it's probably because of the lack of sleep he's been getting. Staying up overnight to study is not sustainable Dammit. He needs his eight to nine hours of sleep. And amongst his studying and schoolwork, he still has to consider what he needs to move over to the new place.

Right, there are bed sheets and lab notes to bring over to the new house. Yes, he is very meticulous about these kinds of things.

_ New house_... Like a buzz, the resonating voice from the lecture hall drifts into white sound.

_ Unbelievable_. Truly it was. Stephen had considered living on campus before and never have the idea of living together with his two friends crossed his mind once. Compelled, his hand jolts down notes from the slide the lecturer had pulled out and he stifles a yawn. Gosh, is he tired. Thank god it's going to be the weekend.

Right, he has to update his address in the school registry as well. Can he do that online? Knowing the school, probably not. And he believes he has to bring in physical proof, and that leaves him to remember that he has to go to one of his bank branches to update his details as well. Stephen rubs his face and groans inwardly, work just seems to pile up. Maybe moving isn't a great idea after all, goddammit Daniel.

"_I think it'll be nice living together, Stephen_," he recalls the meal, the mess in front of him, and Hosuh _ encouraging _the idea.

Pulling himself together, he resigns to the fact that it has already happened and tells himself it's not the worst thing that has happened to him.

One by one, his peers are packing up. Well, it's about damn time. He tries his best to concentrate on the remaining lecture and elbows his classmate next to him to check if he had missed out on anything while he was zoned out.

The lecturer announces the end of class and in a swift motion, Stephen swipes his stuff off the table and into his bag, and proceeds to stride his way out of school. 

Boy, was he ** _hungry_**. The blues in the sky is fading and the temperature plummets. He was unaware that his legs brought him to the bus stop until a text from his mom rouses him. Thankfully the way home is similar to his usual commute, otherwise, he'll be really pissed. Sending a short text to update his mom, he breathes out a sigh and leans against a pole. It creaks under his weight but it held up strong. 

If the other two were as inattentive as him, they'll probably march straight to the wrong stop before they even realise they were going the wrong way. He chuckles at the thought.

Stephen plans ahead, step by step of what needs to be done. He holds his phone back up and types them all into his notes, sorting them out by priorities as he waits for the bus. He needs to unwind, he muses, otherwise his bad mood will hang on for more than a week and he doesn't want to be _ that _person who yells at a child for stepping on their toes.

Maybe he'll get Hosuh to DOTA with him later. That'll help.

The bus arrives, and he got a seat at the back. Halfway during the ride, he almost nods off. He sits up straight and pays attention to the commuters. A group of noisy teens stands out. Their eyes are glued to a phone, watching a video or something of the sorts. Their giggles turned into laughter before hushing down briefly to listen better to the audio. They remind him of their group, back to the memories of his best-loved days.

Like when the three of them were trapped in school as a thunderstorm rolls in and none of them were mindful enough to bring an umbrella. They passed the time by playing hide-and-seek tag and messing around in empty classes. Ah... To the rays of the past where they were more carefree than now.

_ "Hey Hosuh, what are you doing back there?" Daniel asked when they were free to roam during their chem 12 class. _

_ Startled, Hosuh looked up from the school's laptop and lowered his stylus as Daniel walked up to him. Stephen followed behind, a chastise stays on the tip of his tongue in case Daniel has any idea about messing with the laptop. _

_ He would be all for it if it wasn't Hosuh's work he might affect. _

_ "Oh," Hosuh hesitated, "I'm just working on something." _

_ Daniel perked up, "Oh! Can I see?" If Daniel had a tail it would be wagging by now, Stephen thought. _

_ "Uh.. Sure," Hosuh angled the laptop towards them so they could take a look. It was a portrait, for his art class perhaps. Or a personal project, which was also liable. _

_ "Oh my god, it looks so good," Stephen frowned when Dan looked like he had an idea closing in, and he hasn't been proven wrong predicting Daniel before. _

_ "I have a great idea!" Called it. _

_ Dan, king of suggestions, said, "Hey! Let's make a Youtube channel!" _

_ What the heck. _

_ Daniel continued, "Hosuh can draw and I can narrate, it'll be really fun!" _

_ "Come on, what do you say, Hosuh?" There's no way he— _

_ "Sure, why not?" Hosuh said with bright eyes. _

_ What._

_ "Uh Okay..." Stephen stepped back out of arm's reach, ready to head back to his table and start working on their project when Dan still managed to grab Stephen by the wrist. Stephen looked down at the hand and to Daniel's grin. _

_ Knowing full well what that grin meant, Stephen immediately said, "Uh no, what makes you think I have the time to make a _ ** _video _ ** _ with you guys." _

_ "Oh come on, summer break is coming up, we can make it then." _

_ He scoffed. "Okay let me rephrase, what makes you think that I want to spend my summer hanging with _ ** _you _ ** _ to make a stupid video," Stephen folded his arms in defiance. _

_ Daniel rolled his eyes, "It won't just be me, Hosuh would be there too, right Hosuh?" Dragging Hosuh in the conversation. _

_ "Uhm, yeah I guess?" Hosuh supposed. Even he sounds unsure now. _

Nonetheless, sure enough, the video was made over the summer.

There are so many moments that seem utterly trivial until they become pivotally significant.

The bus turns into a neighbourly street and his stop comes into sight. Stephen's head bumps into the bus window and he swore under his breath. He really needs to get his sleep, he doesn't want to spiral down with unhealthy habits like sleeping at ungodly hours like Hosuh, or start talking to a fucking _orange_.

Juggling the keys in his hands, Stephen strolls up towards the house and skips up the steps to the door. He wonders if anyone's home and he checks his watch. Dan should still be out, studying further away than him, but Hosuh mentioned that he didn't have any class for the day. _Strange_, there isn't any light slipping through the house. Maybe he went out?

He stops himself before he slides the key in, and tries to open the door instead. It was unlocked. _ Huh. _

Locking the door behind him, Stephen removes his shoes and wanders into the living room. There, amidst the emptiness, is Hosuh staring at something. Clearly unaware that he was back.

_ Christ_, if they haven't just moved in, they'll probably be robbed of all things valuable by now.

Does this boy know how dangerous it could be, to be so situationally unaware?

Stephen walks up and threw himself back onto the couch, next to the oblivious male on the ground.

"Stephen!" Hosuh exclaims in shock as he plucks the photograph out of Hosuh's hands.

It's a polaroid of them when they were younger, a photo they took from that summer to be precise.

"Now why are you sitting in the dark looking at this?" Stephen asks before he gets into reminiscing. "Are you going to turn sappy? Because I'm starving and I don't feel like having something sweet for dinner." -actually, he doesn't mind a cake, or maybe some ice-cream after such a long day.

Hosuh leans in and shoves his arm playfully. Stephen can't help but smile as Hosuh gets up pouting.

"I'll make you something," Hosuh tells him as he disappears into the kitchen.

Now, that wasn't his intention, "Really? We could just order—"

"What do you want for dinner?" Hosuh asks in the other room.

"Asian!" Stephen tells him, half messing with him, half craving for food from home.

"Wha- What the heck? Uh.. I'll try..." Hosuh mumbles. 

He cracks out a small chuckle and makes himself comfortable on the couch. Staring down at the photograph that holds so much weight. Tearing his eyes away, he glances around the room and frowns. Even after all that moving, it's still pretty empty.

An idea hits him and he places the photo next to him. Picking up his bag off the floor, Stephen searches his belongings when he hears the keys at the door.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Daniel asks, switching the lights on. Squinting, Stephen slides the photograph behind his back, to specifically block it from Daniel's view because he certainly knows how nostalgic Dan can be. He needs serenity, not questions asking him if he remembers god knows Susie or Susen, or this and that for that matter.

It'll reveal itself sooner or later anyway.

The greenette drops himself next to Stephen, he looks just as swarmed as he was.

Dan threw a comment at him, "You look more like crap than usual."

"Still can't be less appealing than you and your ideas," Stephen shoots back and Daniel laughs and tells him to shut up.

All the same, Dan asks him about his day and they talk for a while.

"Rite, imma hit the shower," Dan said before he left to the kitchen to say something to Hosuh.

Stephen whips the photo out when he hears the showers go on, and brings out a tape from his bag. He gets up and bumps into a box on the ground. Maybe he should do some unpacking to recoup while waiting for dinner.

"Hey, have you seen any of my hard disks in any of those boxes?" Daniel asks him as he was rummaging through other boxes.

"No," Stephen says deadpan as he put a hard disk back into the box. Dan snatches it back and had the gall to whip his wet hair near him.

"What the heck! Stop it you dog" Stephen shoves Daniel's head away and is one step away from strangling him with the strings of his hoodie.

"Dinner is ready guys," Hosuh comes out of the kitchen to tell him, obviously amused by them.

The food smells great, a smell of familiarity that takes Stephen miles away, back home.

"Oh thank god, I love you Hosuh!" Stephen watches as the shorter one throws himself onto Hosuh and nuzzles his head on Hosuh's neck.

Annoyed, Stephen pulls Daniel back by the hood, "That's not how you thank someone you wet dog."

Hosuh laughs at the affection, waving it off and leads the two into the kitchen. Daniel helped them to get the rice while Stephen helped by getting the cutleries. He contemplates taking a knife just to mess with them.

"Dan, you're gonna get sick if you don't dry your hair properly," Hosuh comments with a frown after Dan makes a sniffle.

"No I won't," he responds while handing Hosuh a plate, "I do this all the time back home."

Hosuh hums in disapproval, but left it at that.

They're back into the living room, Hosuh holds Daniel's plate while he flips empty boxes over to use it as a table.

"One more thing!" Daniel yells before darting into his room and brings out his laptop to play _Markiplier's Try Not To Laugh Or Face Nothing _videos.

It was amusing but not much of a challenge thus far.

Stephen noticed Hosuh's ‘table’ tipped over dangerously for the umpteenth time as he ate. He catches the edge of the box to stable it on the next time it happens, almost knocking his over in the meantime.

"So you dirt, when is the coffee table gonna come?" Stephen huffs as he scoops up his rice. Dan makes a short awkward laugh, "Okay, I promise it'll be here by next Thursday,"

Stephen chokes, "It's _Friday_," he emphasizes, "We gotta wait for an entire week?!" Stephen gulps down the water offered to him while glaring at Daniel.

"Hey let's be optimistic, we have each other? We can take this as a bonding moment," Daniel laughs.

"Unbelievable. I'll turn _ you _into a table."

"Oh yeah? I'll like to see you try, chicken legs." _Oh, Stephen is so ready to hit him._

They were squabbling when a peal of sudden soft laughter quietens them down.

"Hey, you lost the challenge," Daniel nudge Hosuh with his elbow, a bright smile plastered on his face. Hosuh turns to look at Stephen with knowing eyes and suddenly, he doesn't feel angry anymore.

Stephen looks at his friends, where he is now, and sees the appeal of living together that he doesn't mind working for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this all the way to the end, especially to the anon who commented and to everyone who left kudos.  
Writing is so difficult, I don't know how people do it so seamlessly. All your support fills me with determination. Thank you again.  
I'll be bringing Jay in soon.
> 
> Go be beautiful


	3. King of Suggestions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel's sick

_ Oh my god. _ His body is aching all over as he wakes up, conscious of how much he is shivering. _ What time is it? _

His hands search the bed, pulling the sheets as he fumbles around to find his phone. The blue light flashes and it takes a while for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness before it dims down to reveal that it's 4 in the morning. He groans. _ Why is it so frigging cold? _

He tosses the blanket over his head and tries to go back to sleep.

Futile. _Futile_ was what it was. All that tossing and turning only seem to irritate his nose further, evident by the escalating stifles. It's too cold dangit. He needs to do something about it.

Sniffing, Daniel flings the blanket away and drags himself to sit up. Swiping a tissue from his bedside, he blows his nose and winces at how achy his body is. What the heck. What happened last night?

When dinner ended, the events after that were just a blur. Uhm... Stephen asked Hosuh if he was up for gaming and... And Hosuh asked if he wanted to join, but he had to decline because he had work to do.

They chatted for a bit, made comments about the video, and among other stuff before they bid their goodbyes for Stephen and Hosuh to prepare for their game.

Stephen left the living room first while Hosuh mostly hung around- to cast worried sideways glance at him.

Somewhere during dinner, he had perhaps sneezed once.. or several (eleven) times, but it's probably because of all the dust from moving in. Nothing to be concerned about.

"I'm fine, Hosuh," Daniel reassured him, "Don't be such a worrywart." he teased, putting a free hand on Hosuh's back to encourage him to go on ahead.

"_Ookay_," Hosuh dragged the word, "Don't overwork yourself, Dan," he simply said, casting one last look at him before going into his room.

His memory is so fuzzy, he doesn't recall actually getting into bed or even saving his work file. Did he save his work? Ughh.. He blows his nose, harder this time. It's something to worry about later.

Still, the unsettling feeling pooling in his guts is distressing.

Closing his eyes, he takes deep, calming breaths and racks his brain for anything, anything that would take his mind off the worrying. Images of his friends, living there in the same house as him, is sufficient enough to lift his spirit up again.

_He's not alone,_ he reminds himself._ He's **not** alone._

Nonetheless, he's grateful he didn't end up passing out on his work desk. That'll be hell for his neck.

Daniel does some back stretching. It didn't help lessen the weariness as much as he had hoped for, but at least he feels a tad better. Switching on the lamp on his nightstand, he grimaced at the light illuminating the room. He really doesn't want to leave his bed.

But he does so anyway. If he is feeling cold, Stephen and Hosuh probably are too.

His knees buckle once he tries to stand, but he thankfully manages to catch the corner of his mattress in time to save himself from falling. God, he feels awful. And really sore. He almost loses his bearings as he heads towards the adjourning bathroom.

Leaning against the sink, he studies his reflection. The two pools of his dark eyes are glassy and bloodshot while his natural light skin is terrifyingly pale with the exception of colour on his nose and cheeks, which are ablaze with an obvious red flush.

A frigging cold. He sneezes loudly and groans, wiping his nose and then scrubbing hard at his eyes in exasperation.

"Crap. Hosuh was right," he rumbles, the cracking of his voice is agonisingly painful to his throat, the truth in those words hurts just as much.

Oh, Stephen is going to have a field trip.

It's a weekend and at this time, his friends should be sleeping. Hosuh could still be awake, although, he heard how tired Hosuh was about the move, so he might actually be in bed.

_Figures_, even Hosuh would submit to _actually_ sleep at regular hours after all that moving.

The living room is unusually quiet, and very much empty. Daniel had only seen the living room with at least one of his friends chilling or a presence moving about in the kitchen. Though, granted they had only just moved in, he doesn't think he can get used to the sight of an empty house.

Daniel search for the thermostat in the dark and stumbles with his phone to get some light on it to adjust the valve. The low steady sound of airflow through the walls proves that it is functioning when pleasant heat immediately warms the room.

Oh, that feels great.

Basking in the warmth, he drops his body onto the couch. He couldn't find it in himself to care that it wasn't his bed and it may be filthy with dust and dirt from god knows where and allowed himself to snuggle against the cushion. Just for a bit...

His head rest on his forearm while his cheeks nest into his other hand. His eyelid weighs down heavily, drifting shut as he listens to the murmur of the ventilation. It didn't take long before he falls soundly asleep.

"-Daniel? Daniel." His body rocks back and forth, Daniel opens his eyes to see Hosuh's concern face.

"Oh hey Hosuh," Daniel croaks, offering a weak smile at his friend. Dang, his scratchy throat makes the greeting almost unintelligible.

Hosuh blinks at him in disbelief, "You're kidding me."

Between his dark lashes, he could see Hosuh wrestling within himself to hold in an "I told you so." Although he didn't end up vocalising it, it's so painfully abundant that Daniel wish the male would just tell him off.

Hosuh makes a huge sigh and rubs his eyes so hard that Daniel almost feels guilty. Before he knows it, Hosuh leans down and places a cold hand on his forehead. He tries to suppress a shiver from breaking out from the contact. It's so cold.

Hosuh furrows his brows, "You're pretty warm, you should get back to bed," he orders as he slides an arm behind Daniel and lifts him off the couch.

"Aw, no you're hot comments?" The usual flair in his words was lost because of his raspy voice. He doesn't hide his grin when Hosuh gives him a judgy look.

"Don't make me drop you," Hosuh warns as he helped guide him back to bed.

Once they enter his room, Hosuh places him down in bed and head over to his window to close the curtains. "I don't think we have a thermometer lying around, but I'm gonna get you some water and paracetamol. Do you want anything else?"

Daniel shakes his head and then right after, a wave of sneezes befall on him. He drops his head into his pillow panting for air. This _ sucks_. Another incoming; this time, a loud booming sneeze thunder through and out of him. _ This _ ** _really _ ** _ sucks. _

Hosuh walks in and hands him two white pills and a glass of warm water.

Dan tries to offer a smile, it turned out strained. His throat is too painful to even try thanking him. Though, he does make an effort to sit up, but his body is so sore, just like the aftermath of running a marathon.

Noticing his struggle and discomfort, Hosuh hurries over to help him up. Dan takes the water and pops the pills in hastily. This time, he mumbles a thank you after swallowing them down.

Once again Hosuh places his hand on his forehead and Dan leans into the comfort of the touch. Hosuh brushes Dan's hair away from his forehead and stroke his hair gently, just like how his mother would do when he was a child. He relishes in the memory and the gesture for it.

Hereon, Daniel drifts in and out of sleep. Only to come to when he feels a plush damp cloth lifted away from his face.

Hosuh hums a gentle tune as he dips a hand towel into a basin, drains it out and place it back over Daniel's forehead.

_ It's warm. _

"Awh... I feel so loved." Daniel cracks open his eyes in time to see Hosuh flinch, throwing him another look.

Dan surpasses a laugh. That look is really amusing given the situation. But he knows Hosuh would not tolerate being patronized and he shouldn't push it too far or he'll have to deal with this cold alone.

"Are you hungry? I'll make you some breakfast." Hosuh asks.

Breakfast? It's still morning? What time was it when Hosuh found him?

Dan nods his head and Hosuh leaves the room quietly, taking the basin away. As soon as he leaves, Dan starts sneezing and sniffling uncontrollably. He blows his nose into tissues and flops back against the pillows. He's already fed up with this cold. He just wants to break, hit, or smash _ something_. But despite that, opting for a loud groan is what he does.

He isn't going to make a fuss. He promises for the sake of his dignity and for his friends. Dan shifts around the bed in an attempt to get comfortable.

No, he's **not** gonna make a fuss about it.

Hosuh returns with pancakes. _ Mini _pancakes. It was already drizzled with syrup with sliced apples on the side.

Breakfast in _bed_? Unheard of. Even when Dan was back home with his own family. God, even _Elias_ wouldn't bring food to his bed when he was sick. Daniel places a hand over his heart and purses his lower lip out at Hosuh.

Hosuh shoves his head to the side, wiping the expression away to a silly smile instead. "Don't get used to it." Hosuh scolds but he couldn't hide the smile in his earnest expression.

Hosuh lets him eat in peace and Dan's smile falters. Somewhere, in the back of his head, he’ll like Hosuh to keep him company. Begrudgingly he pushes the thought away just because he doesn't want Hosuh to catch whatever he's having.

Daniel does stop Hosuh before he leaves to make a small request. For a split second, Hosuh looks conflicted, still, he went ahead to get his laptop for him.

He finishes his breakfast within minutes and opens his laptop to check through his work. It's all saved, he pumps a fist in midair and sighs in relief. There's that, he cast the laptop aside and tries to sleep the hell-sent illness away. However, he didn't get a chance to fall back into blissful sleep when a packet of coconut water lands not too gently on his abdomen.

"So I heard someone is sick?"

Oh god, he forgot Stephen was bound to appear.

"Stephen, we're friends, but can you please lay off, dude?" Daniel grumbles, stuffing his face into his hands in both frustration and embarrassment.

"Fine, fine." Stephen sings, bringing his hands up in a sort of peace promoting gesture. Even if his shit-eating smirk didn't lessen the taunt.

Dan's brows draw down in much annoyance, yet he chooses to remain silent. He really didn't want to start bickering now.

"Go away, Stephen" Dan half-heartedly demands, picking up the beverage from his mattress and considers hurling it at Stephen's face.

Stephen is not entirely surprised by the other's unusual salty behavior. "Whatever. Hosuh and I are going to the supermarket. Apparently, we don't have enough medication and healthy food to take care of a fool. Don't come calling if you need anything," Stephen left before he could see the scowl Daniel cast at him.

Closing the bedroom door behind him, Hosuh was chewing on his lower lip before he turns to him. "Are you sure about leaving him alone in the house?" he asks, "I mean.. I can get everything on my own and-"

"Don't worry, I've called for backup," Stephen says while checking his pockets for his keys.

Hosuh tilts his head cutely at the response, but Stephen gives him no time to question, pushing him out of the house by the shoulder.

The pleasantness of company Daniel had felt is now long gone; now he merely lies in bed, rolling over on his side and pulling his blankets further over himself.

He had drunk the drink Stephen had _ kindly _left him and had gone to the bathroom once or twice now. Time's passing, but it wasn't passing fast enough that this dreaded feeling of being alone would go away.

He stares at passing clouds through the cracks of the curtain. The silence of the room is only broken by the ticking of the clock that hangs on the wall above his work desk as the minute hand swings up to the 58 minute position, and the hour hand virtually points to the number 12.

Zoning out the ticking, the birds chirping, the murmur of cars passing and the phantom of his friends' voices, Dan manages to fall back asleep.

Daniel hears humming when he comes back to the world of the living.

"Hosuh?" His hoarse voice cracked as he tries to speak.

"No, another angel is here," a deeper voice replies him.

Daniel peeks through half-lidded eyes to find his orange-clad hair friend sitting at his bedside, tinkering with something.

"_Jay? _" Dan snaps open his eyes and attempts to sit up. In a flash, Jay gently hefts him up and Daniel takes note of the oddly kind gesture.

Once he sits up, Dan looks at him again before he covers his mouth with a hand, "Pfft. Another angel? More like a fully fledged psychopath." Daniel jokes, his voice rough and tired.

"Hey," Jay exclaims, faking offense in his voice. "I prefer sociopath."

Daniel laughs; his laugh sounded weak and raspy even to his own ears. Jay makes a wordless noise, almost frowning at the latter's disheveled appearance. Daniel really did look sick.

He gets up suddenly and leaves the room, returning through the door with a cup in his hand.

"Wh-" Jay holds a hand up to interrupt Dan and walks closer with the drink in his other hand.

Dan eyes the cup warily and extends a nervous smile. "It's just an herbal drink I'd made, try it," Jay tells him before he could even ask.

Daniel hesitates, instead of reaching out to take the drink, he-

"No, Hosuh and Stephen aren't back yet."

Yet again answering questions before his lips could even part. He tries again, "How-"

"I broke into the house to get in." _ Wow, wait, What? _

"I was kidding, now try the drink," Jay prompts, urging the drink towards him.

Daniel narrows his eyes at him. There is a long weighty silence as Daniel wrestles with the idea of taking the cup. The herbal scent of the drink does check out, and he does trust Jay enough to drink it without knowing what's in there. But he's most concerned about the taste. Knowing Jay, it could taste like bile or be so extremely bitter it becomes undrinkable.

It's rude to assume, he tells himself, and went for it.

It's sweet. He was pleasantly surprised. It's actually really good. Jay watched bemused as Daniel gulp the entire drink down after he realised how thirsty he was. His throat feels immensely better.

Daniel, never one to let the room go quiet, speaks once more.

"So," He starts, playing with the cup in his hands, "How did you get in?"

"Oh," Jay takes the cup away, "I broke in." WOW,_ O-kAyy_. There goes his smile and unspoken words. Maybe he shouldn't be as surprised as he was, but he is absolutely speechless. Maybe silence is better than knowing after all.

When Jay sees the pure shock and disturbance etch across Daniel's face, he simply laughs. And, at the sound of his laughter, Daniel somehow feels his mood boosted.

Though it is short lived, his nose decides to overwhelm him again. He grabs a handful of tissue and faces the other way. With his face stuffed with tissues, he thought this misery couldn't get any worse.

"You probably don't want to stay very long," Daniel murmur sulkily, mostly to himself. His misery seems to just amp up through those words alone.

"Mmm," Jay replies noncommittally before he went to fetch another cup for him. While he does so, Daniel pulls his laptop back out and browse through the internet. Maybe he can take advantage of this whole ordeal and create a video about being sick.

Jay comes back and they fall into doing their own stuff.

Daniel's sneezes doesn't stop albeit resting for hours and he feels a headache coming along. Moving his head back to rest on the headboard, his eyes lock to the ceiling.

"This fudging sucks," he laments petulantly.

"Yeah, I'm sure it does," Jay replies, not looking up from his phone.

Daniel closes his eyes for a minute or two and is taken aback when a cool hand is placed upon his forehead. A touch surprisingly gentle. Daniel snaps his eyes back open and raises his eyebrow.

Jay clicks his tongue, shaking his head in disapproval at the sick male who now looked more disheveled than earlier.

Suddenly, Daniel starts to feel really self conscious about his vanity. He _ presumes _ his hair is a mess, with each strand probably poking at random directions, his cheeks _ should _ be red from exasperation, and he _ knows _his clothes are a jumbled mess. He knows, and on top of that, he wants Jay to leave. He hasn't had a shower since last night and he hasn't even brushed his teeth dangit.

Dan vaguely wonder what Jay must have thought of him seeing him like this. He needs to go to the washroom. Now.

"Now what are you doing?" Jay asks dryly, as Daniel shifts himself over to the edge of the bed.

Dan pulled up short. He shakes his head. "I'm perfectly fine, just gonna head to the bathroom." He pushes himself off the bed and stands up to his full height to prove it, but the evident tremor in his knees did not go unnoticed by the other male in the room. "See?"

"Right..." Jay suppress the urge to laugh and manages to keep an impassive face.

Dan huffs a little as he turns to face the corner. "Look," Daniel blurts, placing a hand on his chest, heaving at how tired he already was, "Thank you for coming and the..." he signals at the cup on his bedside, "Um.. drink. But I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." he adds firmly.

"I know," Jay answers in that damn calm voice of his. Dan glower at him while Jay continues to use his phone unbothered.

However, before he can take two steps towards the bathroom. A hand shot out to grab his wrist and he staggers back, "Wha-"

"Stay." Jay commands, he already has his phone put away and he passes him towards the bathroom. Daniel’s head throbs and he obeys without protest, listening to the sound of the faucet turning on from the small room before it dies down. Jay returns with a damp towel, tossing it into Daniel's arm which he stumbles to catch.

"Use that." is all he said before he sits back down on the chair next to his bed. Daniel flops back down haphazardly onto the bed. He wipes the towel over his face and it feels great.. but all he wants is to was to scream into it.

"Now isn't that better?" Jay asks, taking on the big-brother-is-concerned attitude.

As it turns out, Daniel has a fever and didn't actually have the strength to get to the bathroom himself. He feels disoriented, as if he has a foot in the grave. Needless to say, he feels like crap, and probably looks like one too. Without a mirror, he could only be sure about one of them.

Daniel moans bitterly as he burrows his face in his hands, getting a bit overly emotional at how weak he is.

"I'm gonna get you sick," Daniel reminds him softly.

"Believe it or not, I don't care," Jay murmurs, grabbing some tissues out for him. Daniel immediately use them.

There's a long beat of silence and Dan thought they were going back to their quiet time until Jay breaks the silence.

"I..." he hesitates, "I did bring some of my own medicine over but I was waiting for Stephen and Hosuh to come b-"

"I'll take yours." Daniel interrupts straightly around the tissue.

Jay looks taken aback. Slowly, he pulls up his bag that Daniel didn't know he had beside his bedside and fish out a glossy black bottle. Gingerly, he taps the pills out of the bottle and grabs the cup for him.

Before Daniel could take the cup, Jay pulls it back.

"It's really strong, and it'll make you drowsy," He warns Daniel in a low serious voice, ensuring it's loud and clear to him.

Their eyes meet, and this time, Daniel sees how unsure Jay is, but also his genuine concern.

Daniel smiles slightly at Jay's disclaimer and pops the pills in. Jay lets go of the cup for Daniel to wash the pills down.

Sure enough, Daniel is sedated and completely lax in bed. He thinks he can sleep with his runny nose finally calming down. Jay gently moves Daniel's hand under the blanket while Daniel mumbled incoherent sleepy words, giving Jay a softened stare and a subtle smile.

Jay picks up the discarded hand towel on the floor and attempts to leave when Daniel shifts in bed.

"Stay with me until I fall asleep?" Daniel murmurs the request, so soft Jay almost missed it.

"Of course," Jay whispers, sitting back and pulls the chair closer. He puts a hand on Dan's head and strokes the back of Daniel's hair with his thumb, watching as the greenette breath begins to even out.

Daniel wakes up feeling much more cohesive, smelling soup drifting through the air. He feels a whole lot better and he dares say _well_, even.

He combs his hair back with his fingers. He wasn't sure if what Jay gave him was the lifeline he needed but it was enough to bring back some of his usual vigor.

Curious, he looks around to find any signs of Jay remaining in the house. A messenger brown bag resting beside the bed frame is enough to make his heart flutter.

Hosuh should be making dinner enough for all of them and he could imagine that being incentive enough for Jay to stay with a sick guy for an entire day. Nonetheless, he's not going to twine. He scans the room again and finds a packet of coconut water along with a green apple on the side of his nightstand.

For a split second, Daniel thinks.

He thinks about Stephen and all the years they had been friends; he thinks about all the times they stuck together in spite of the dozens of times they fought, and the more times Stephen'd considered what's best for him and the group despite losing out.

Then he thinks about Hosuh, his confidante; who had been there with him through thick and thin, taking care of him with all one's heart for what feels like a lifetime now.

And he thinks about Jay, who'd went out of his way to take care of him, letting himself in, and stayed even when he'd tried to chase him away.

It's so strange; he feels like he's floating, drifting to the bathroom like a ghost. Turning the tap on, Dan stares at his reflection before his dips his head, cupping a handful of water, he throws it at his face. He washes up and at long last, leaves the stuffy bedroom.

There, in the living room, his friends turn their heads.

"He's alive!" Stephen cheers, "The grouch is back!"

All at once, he takes in how his life had gotten to this point. Even the joy of reaching a million subs cannot be compared to this feeling he has right now.

He feels like he could be the happiest man on earth and he laughs in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daniel don't get enough love.. 
> 
> Thank you guys for the kudos!
> 
> Keep your chin up


	4. Grocery Affair (Side Chapter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first grocery shopping together.

"Really? You're seriously filming _now_?" Stephen grimaced at the loss of their privacy when he noticed Daniel aiming his camera towards the supermarket.

Dan had started vlogging again, and the expensive device has been popping up with him more often than not lately. Honestly, he had thought he wouldn't think of bringing it along to something as trivial as going to the supermarket, but apparently not.

The camera was practically glued to him by this point.

"Well hello to you too, Stephen," Daniel panned to him before swinging the camera around to be in frame, "Hey everybody! So today, Stephen, Hosuh and I are going to do our first grocery shopping together to stock up our new house!"

In a swift motion, Dan pointed the camera back at Stephen, grinning so wide it could split his face apart. "So say hello again, Stephen."

"Fuck you," he said loud and clear, his fingers rubbed against his palms in his jacket pockets, itching to throw a middle finger out at him.

"What, no!" Dan brought down the camera and checked the footage. "Come on, it was going so well, now I have to restart."

"You should have seen that coming," Stephen retorted and Dan glared at him. It wasn't his intention to ruin the video, it's just that he simply found it difficult to relax when a camera is pointed right at him and his impulse usually begets being himself rather than being family friendly.

"Come on Stephen, let him be," Hosuh stated on his other side, searching through a list of household 'must-have' on his phone. Daniel brought the camera back up again after fiddling with it.

"Fine, have fun spending hours editing out our faces," Stephen said loftily and Hosuh tried to rein in his laughter at his side. Daniel rolled his eyes before a mischievous glint lit up in his eyes. With an award-winning smile back on his face, Daniel tried again.

"Hey guys! Today we finally have Stephen and Hosuh doing face reveals!" Dan announced with full conviction as he pointed the camera their way.

That earned deadpan looks. "No." They said firmly in unison.

Dan pouted at the strong rejection but continued filming anyway.

It has been weeks since they received their keys to their new house. Being cooped up with school and work, they had finally found the time to go to the supermarket together. They have briefly discussed what to get during their video calls, but Hosuh was almost certain no one had actually written anything down.

Thankfully, each time they made a contribution to the grocery list, Hosuh would try to remember them by heart, as well as the additional ones made by himself. Hosuh thought about how that list would have looked, being that three young adults finally gaining their freedom would go crazy from liberation, he thought he would definitely found it worth keeping and Hosuh lamented that they didn't have one made.

One thing to note was that they were under a budget, so someone would have to be the sensible one today.

_Oh, he could throw another bacon party._

"Do I get to sit in the shopping cart? I want to sit in a shopping cart." Stephen bounced on his toes once they entered the store.

"Pretty sure you'll just fill the whole cart," Dan said distantly.

"Are you calling me fat?" Stephen whipped back around and challenged him

Hosuh pocketed his phone, too busy planning out a route to be playing around with them. Grocery shopping was like clockwork to Hosuh. They should be fine.

Within ten minutes, Hosuh was already fed up with them.

Stephen had "_unknowingly_" bumped Daniel into the store's shelf, resulting in a rain of displays and they took upon themselves to see who could "_accidentally_" cause the most items to fall off the shelf.

Hosuh wanted no part of that game.

Oh god please give him strength because apart from that, Daniel had already raided the place and was plucking two more items from the side. They were only on the _first_ aisle.

"And you called me fat," Stephen's jaw dropped when Daniel entered his line of sight. "Where exactly are we going to keep all of those?" he asked, as he gestured at the pile Daniel was carrying. "I don't think our house has enough space for all of your nonsense."

"Well, there's always that extra room," Daniel argued and fought Stephen's refusing hands when he tried to put the pile into the cart.

"No. We're not messing up that room," Stephen rebuked, "Can you imagine the chaos we have to clean when we actually figured out what to do with it?"

"Pttf, that's something future us will have to deal with." Daniel brushed him off, looking away, something else on display caught his eye.

"Oh yeah? Future _me_ is gonna kill you for it."

Already, Hosuh felt a headache coming along, he does not know what he've done to deserve any of this. They're supposed to be _saving_ costs.

"Okay guys, I think we should split up, and Dan, I'm sorry but I don't think we need any of those today," Hosuh told them with a pinch of exasperation slipping through.

"Yeah, put them back." Stephen echoed behind the cart.

Daniel made a sad pout and Hosuh softened. "Just one thing, We'll get the rest next time," he added, taking a few items from the top of his pile to help him put it back. Dan made a happy noise and dropped a snack into the cart.

Daniel then went ahead, up and forth the aisle to put everything back while Stephen followed a few steps behind Hosuh with the squeaky cart.

"You're going to spoil him," Stephen told him and he shrugged, pushing a cereal box back to return the one Daniel took away.

"I'm going to get vegetables," he told him, aimlessly scanning the array of refreshments for anything they'll need, finding none, "Take only what we need, we're on a budget," Hosuh reminded.

"Yeah, Yeah... I'm not Daniel," Stephen replied dryly, waving him off.

Before he could step out of the aisle, Hosuh heard a trolley slam behind him and a sound of pain coming from Daniel.

He doesn't want to look back and he's not going to.

Going through the fresh fruit and vegetable section, Hosuh picked a few onions and garlic and the colourful fruit selection caught his attention. Drawn towards it, he moved to the section and picked up an apple and examine it when someone approached his side.

"Are those any good?"

Hosuh turned to the man he doesn't recognise and he arched his eyebrow. Switching glances to the apple and back to him, he asked, "This? Uhm.. They should be okay? Never tried it."

A breathy laugh was the response and the stranger reached out across Hosuh to take an apple from his other side. Hosuh took a step back so he wouldn't bump into him.

The stranger made an indignant hum, twirling the fruit in his hands absently while staring at Hosuh.

That's odd, did he say something wrong?

"Sorry, I'm not much of a help. I think someone here would have tried the fruits here before..." Hosuh continued, while nervously playing with the fruit in his hand.

The man dropped his eyes to the apple he's twiddling with, "Nah I was just wondering, it's all good," the man said before fixing his eyes back at him and he licked his lips.

Hosuh fought the urge to move back when the man suddenly moved in to lean down to retrieve his basket. Thank god he didn't because that would have looked silly.

The man casted a sly look at Hosuh before he walked away, leaving Hosuh feeling like he was at fault at something, and he wasn't sure what. Very confused and disturbed, he abandoned the fruit and bounced from the area. He was positive he didn't need anything from the section anyway.

Methodically, Hosuh went aisle to aisle, plucking household items and the food they need, leaving the ones that were too big for him to carry. His hands were getting full and he wondered where the other two could be.

In the drinks section, he spotted an empty basket. A godsent. Hosuh dropped the heap of items down into the basket, and squatted next to it to take a breather. At eye-level, was a box of tea he remembered Daniel likes. Hosuh's hands bumped into another when they reached out for the same box.

"Ah Sor—oh," Hosuh withdrew, momentarily he looked surprised when he saw the same stranger again.

Right, this is a supermarket, bumping into one another again was completely justified.

The stranger plucked the box off the shelf and handed it over to him. One side of his lips tipped up, looking quite smug, "My bad, I suppose you like tea?"

Hosuh snapped his attention away from the tea box and blinked.

"Yeah, I guess," Hosuh pondered for a while before he confirmed it, "I do, and my friend likes this brand."

The stranger turned his body and leaned against the tea shelf. Crushing a few of the front packets and boxes. "Oh, is your friend around?" he inquired.

Puzzled, Hosuh was about to answer when the man pushes himself back up from the tampered shelf and moved around the basket that was blocking in between them to pick up a tea box next to him.

"This is my favourite, maybe your friend would like it too," he winked, keeping his glaze in contact with his as he shifted forward so close that they were face to face, to place the box into his basket.

Hosuh tensed up at the sudden close proximity between them, gritting his teeth together and swallowed a lump in his throat when the man doesn't seem to be moving back to a comfortable distance.

"Nah, I don't think he'll like it." The man backed off at the voice and Hosuh let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Why does it seem like everyone was sneaking up on him?

"Ah, he's your friend?" the man asked in a strange tight-knit tone.

"No-I mean yes," Hosuh stammered and Stephen quirked an eyebrow unamused.

"Nice to meet you," the man offered a hand and Stephen eyed him suspiciously. Instead of taking it, he extended the tea box back to him.

They stared each other down and Hosuh couldn't help but notice the growing air of tension around him.

What is going on?

The gaze was finally broken off by the man as he shrugged, bringing his hand back empty-handed. Stephen dropped his hand back to his side watching the man grunts as he got up.

"Keep it, you never know until you've tried it," he told them as he brushed passed Stephen and swiped up his basket which was a few feet away.

Hosuh stayed on the ground, watching as the man walked away without looking back.

He heard a sigh, Hosuh turns to look up at his friend. Stephen held out the tea box towards Hosuh. Assuming that he wanted him to put it back on the shelf, Hosuh held his out but unexpectedly, Stephen tossed it into his basket instead and held his extended hand to pull him up.

"Come on," Stephen said, letting go once he's properly up, "I think we're done here."

"Oh hi guys," Daniel startled them, "Getting tea for me? Awh, that's sweet." Daniel teased, leaning against a full cart with a camera lens pointed at them.

"Whatever, you're paying for it anyway," Stephen scoffed before leaving the aisle.

"Huh, what's up with him?" Daniel asked him as he lowers his camera. Hosuh grabbed his basket and thought about the question. He himself wasn't sure.

Within a few minutes, they found Stephen, holding onto a pack of coconut water. They checked through the cart, got the necessary and removed the not.

_Some_ of it, at least.

Daniel bit his lips while watching the cashier scan the groceries and cheered loudly when they managed to miraculously keep within the planned budget.

Walking out of the store was a whole new breath of relief. It was the most eventful grocery shopping he has yet. He'd usually dwelt with boring shopping experience on his own, met weird shoppers sure, but never so chaotic before. He couldn't decide if he actually prefers shopping alone.

Daniel was talking to the camera again while Stephen walked a step behind him. It's their last call, in case they'd forgotten anything. Thinking back if they had missed out on anything, they could just run back in and grab them. And Hosuh realised that he did.

He stopped in his tracks. He did miss out on one thing.

Daniel was ahead of them, already looking to hail a cab, and Stephen passed him but stopped to check up on him when he was a few too many steps away. Before a syllable could leave his lips, Hosuh called out to him.

"Hey Stephen," he dabbled the shopping bags to his other hand to free one as he strides forward to catch up to the waiting male.

Hosuh smiled wider when he stood in front of him and Stephen blinked. Balling his hand into a fist, Hosuh heaved in, "Thank you," he heftily bumps the fist into Stephen's chest. A flash of emotions crossed the taller male's eyes for the words he'd left unsaid._ Because he understood, _and that's all it matters.

"Come on guys," Daniel called out to them as a cab pulls up, "Let's go home!"

"Yeah..." Stephen dragged, he turned back to him with unreadable eyes and a soft smile, "Let's go home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant to be a drabble and it turned into a chapter. 
> 
> au revoir


	5. Tip off

Everyone had an agenda. Be it good or bad, there'll always be an intent in between and Jay had lived enough to believe that the suspicion he holds for everyone, including his friends, are reasonable to uphold. Clasping firmly to this peculiar presumption. He doesn't make any exceptions when a notification pops up from the top of his cellphone upon this dreary Saturday morning.

_Psychophen: You up? [10:14am]_

Jay groans in annoyance and wonders if he can make it through the round before he replies to it.

He couldn't.

_That depends, why are you asking [10:16am] - Damn him and his curiosity._

_Psychophen: Can't a bro check up on a brother? [10:18am]_

Jay scoffs at the text and type in an easy answer.   
_No [10:19am]_

_Psychophen: God fine. [10:19am]_  
_Typing..._

Tempted and estranged, Jay is about to swipe back to his game when Stephen finally sends another text.

_Psychophen: Dan's sick. Hosuh and I are going to leave him alone in the house for a while. Dan's been pretty stressed lately, you should visit. [10:22am]_

Scoffing in disbelief, Jay coaxes himself to sit upright in bed.

_You're basically asking me to babysit [10:22am]_

_Psychophen: Take care of him will you? [10:22am]_

_Funny you assume I would [10:22am]_

_Psychophen: I'm sure you already have the address, we're leaving soon. [10:23am]_

He, however, is adamant about staying in bed. Daniel is a grown man. He can take care of himself. **Sick **or not.

Jay practically growls as he treads down the cold footpath with a heavy bag on his shoulder.

He strides round a house and finds himself in the right neighbourhood. There, this should be it. He climbs up the steps and stands by the foreign door, feeling very out of place. It's very uncomfortable, and he isn't obliged to be here to begin with. He can very well abandon the area and avoid all of this.

But his hand betrays him when they knock on the door.

There's a heavy-blanket silence where he stands.

Agitated, Jay tries again, much louder and aggressive this time. Nothing. Nothing but closed door greets back. Before he starts doing more things that'll alarm the neighbours, he tries opening the door instead.

It's locked.

Whipping out his phone, he furiously sends texts to Stephen before hitting the call button. When the automated line takes its toll on the second time, he slaps a hand to his head and groans.

_That mother fu- _Jay pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

_Calm down, _he tells himself. Should he call Dan to open the door? But he had already rapped repeatedly on the door, if he doesn't open to that trainwreck of a sound then what are the chances he would hear the phone ring.

He analyse the surroundings and tries the windows, it will not bulge. Next, he flips the black welcome mat over and finds nothing. Okay. He looks over the potted plant at the side and searches them. Hidden under dead leaves and soil, is a black cube that looks out of place. He picks it up and dusts the dirt off. It doesn't seem like a box, there's no ledge or dent for an opening, there is, however, a circular plastic convex right smack down in the middle.

Is this all a prank? So this was their agenda all along?

He stares at the offending device and back to the door, a grimace crossing his features. If that's how they want to play. Jay slides his hand into his bag and pulls metal tools from a hidden compartment inside. Easily, he picks at the door's lock and the satisfying click that resounds practically made his morning.

He enters the house and locks it behind him. It was still fairly new, with boxes still at the side. He could comment on a thing or two about the wallpaper, but it's honestly a lovely place.

Side-stepping the cardboard obstacles, he goes into the kitchen first and set his bag on the countertop to relieve some weight from it. He borrows a cup from the cupboard and set it down next to a flask he brought. Leaving it alone, he explores the house for a bit. There isn't much to see but there is evidence of life. Now, on to where Dan was, he opens the closest room door and sees an unmade bed and some laundry on the floor. It's plain and very much empty. He shuts the door.

The next door he opens reveals a tidier room with a bed that looks lightly used, with bed sheets neatly tucked in. There's a tablet on the desk and he needed to see no more and keeps the door close.

Third time's the charm. He pushes the dark wood door into the next room. Jay falters at the doorway, staring mass on the bed. Suddenly he doesn't know what to do. It was stupid, after all, he should have expected this and standing right there was the outcome.

With a sigh, he closes the door and approaches the bed, dragging Daniel's chair along so he could settle comfortably next to him. Nestled between yellow feather pillows and a fleece blanket, is Daniel snoring softly, muttering occasionally in his sleep.

Hm. He doesn't seem to be faking sleep. Jay still isn't sure if all of this is just an elaborate prank set up, so he's not letting his guard down. Humming a slow tune, he let his gaze wander over the room, his eyes settle on the happy pictures on the wall before dropping below them. The desk is cluttered, more so than what he assumes to be Hosuh's. He itched to snoop around. Ah, speaking about snooping. He pulls out the tiny device from his pocket.

He examined the black spy camera and break open the back, finding fairly new batteries and a micro SD card.

Are they serious? Is this all truly a prank or are they going to use it against him and report him for breaking and entering?

Deep in thought, he nearly missed a weak voice calling out, "Hosuh?"

He swiftly pockets the device and chose to make the first a witty response his mind thinks of.

"Jay?" The sick male rouses, floundering. Jay dismisses the other man's shock rather gently and helps him sit up.

Looks like whatever his answer was, it's good enough because it receives a chuckle from Dan. "Pfft. Another angel? More like a fully fledged psychopath," Daniel jokes in a gruff voice.

"Hey," Jay exclaims, faking offense in his voice. "I prefer sociopath."

Daniel laughs; his laugh sounds worn down and different.

Jay makes a wordless noise, taking into account the paleness of his skin and how disheveled he is. Daniel really did look sick, it's enough to throw the lingering accusation in the back of his head away.

Oblige, he gets up and heads to the kitchen for the flask. The drink he made is still piping hot, evident by the dancing steam sipping out from it. Hey, Daniel could burn his entire taste buds off for all he cares, that's what he tells himself. Still, going against his thoughts, he blows at the liquid surface before he returns back to the room.

"Wh-" Jay holds a hand up to interrupt Dan and carefully prod over with the drink in his other hand.

Dan's eyes flicker to the cup warily as he extends a nervous smile. "It's just an herbal drink I'd made, try it," Jay tells him at the arch of his eyebrows.

Daniel hesitates and Jay resists the urge to roll his eyes at how obvious the male was.

"No, Hosuh and Stephen aren't back yet," he answers before he attempts to change the topic.

Dan momentarily gawks before putting on an intense expression, "How-"

"I broke into the house to get in," Jay tells him casually.

Quick, before the alarm bells can ring in Daniel's head, "I was kidding, now try the drink," he lies flawlessly and prompts him to take the cup.

Daniel's expression changes to one of suspicion and they intensely stared down. There is a long weighty silence and Jay contemplates shoving the drink down his throat.

At the very least, Daniel makes the first move and sigh in defeat. He takes the cup away from him and takes one last look at it before downing it.

Feeling like he won, Jay watched bemused as Daniel gulp the entire drink down.

Poor boy must've been parched.

"So," Dan starts, breaking the silence in the room, "How did you get in?"

"Oh," Jay remove the cup in his hands before it spills its contents, "I broke in."

When pure shock and disturbance etch across Daniel's face, Jay simply laughs. Daniel ducks his head and starts sneezing. He scrambles to grab a handful of tissue and turns to face the other way.

"You probably don't want to stay very long," Daniel suddenly says and Jay frowns at the statement.

"Mmm," Jay replies noncommittally. He didn't care much about staying with a sick man, but Dan seems to think he does. It's actually quite painful to watch his friend like this.

Without further explanation, he snags the empty cup and leaves the room. Back in the kitchen, the air is still as he fills the cup. Sliding the window open, light air breeze through. He could see the neighbourhood outside, it quite quaint, except for the suspicious looking man loitering outside. He doesn't appear to be an ordinary pedestrian at the way he peers at the house.

Jay leans out and asks, "Do you need something, sir?" Causing him to jump and turn towards him. Wearing a medical face mask and baseball cap, there isn't much to see, especially so when the man skedaddle away before he can take a good look.

Weird. A burglar? Unlikely, it's broad daylight and Jay haven't heard of any theft in this neighbourhood. In any case, Jay proved that the house wasn't empty, so the man probably won't come back again. He does a double take at the surrounding neighbourhood before going back into Daniel's room.

He settles the drink by the bed stand and they fall into doing their own stuff. The odd occurrence pushed forgotten.

Other than the occasional sneezes, the room is pretty much quiet.

"This fudging sucks," Daniel complains out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I'm sure it does," Jay replies him, immense with his game. By the time he looks up, Daniel is resting his head on the headboard looking like death was coming to him.

_Shit._

His hand reaches out to test his temperature on his head and Daniel snaps his glossy eyes open and raises his eyebrow.

Jay clicks his tongue, shaking his head in disapproval at how bad he's doing as a caretaker. "Dammit, when are the two idiots going to come back," Jay mutter to himself, biting a nail in between his teeth.

"Now what are you doing?" Jay asks dryly when Daniel shifts himself over to the edge of the bed.

Dan pulled up short and shakes his head. "I'm perfectly fine, just gonna head to the bathroom." He stands up to prove it but the way his knees wobble makes it extremely unconvincing. "See?"

"Right..." Jay suppresses the urge to laugh and manages to keep an impassive face.

Dan huffs a little as he turns to face the corner. Awh, he's embarrassed.

"Look," Daniel blurts, clearly infuriated. He's heaving quite heavily, he notes. "Thank you for coming and the..." Dan signals at the cup on his bedside, "Um.. drink. But I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." he adds firmly.

"I know," Jay dismisses his speech, tapping a button to move on to the next game on his phone. He spies a glower from Dan, his eyes are glassy and it's difficult to ignore.

Ugh, he groans inwardly and stops Dan from pushing himself.

"Stay," Jay commands. He had been sick before, and the number one thing he wants is to stay in bed all day, staying fresh and clean would be a close second. Dan probably just wants to wash up. Unless he did want to relieve himself, then Jay isn't about to help with that. The way he didn't fight back, it's highly likely it isn't the latter.

Jay enters the washroom and grabs the smallest towel he sees. He turns the faucet to hot and wet the towel, thoroughly draining the excess water before passing it over to the greenette.

"Use that," is all he said before he sits back down on the chair. Daniel flops back down haphazardly onto the bed and wipes the towel over his face.

"Now isn't that better?" Jay asks rather mildly.

Daniel moans bitterly as he burrows his face in his hands.

"I'm gonna get you sick," Daniel reminds him. He wouldn't be here if he was worried about that, would he? He thought Daniel would have figured that out by now.

"Believe it or not, I don't care," Jay murmurs in hopes that Dan does, grabbing some tissues out for him. Daniel takes them and brings them to use.

Daniel's skin is ashen and from what he could tell from placing his backhand on his forehand, he's running a fever.

Now, there's the matter of sleep that can help him, but there are drugs that can speed up his recovery too, and Jay does have that for him. But it's meant as a desperate measure, for the reason of unknown side-effects that could come with it.

He feels a twinge in his chest when he sees Dan hunch over, shivering despite the blanket wrapped around him.

"I..." he hesitates, torn apart while mulling over his considerations, "I did bring some of my own medicine over but I was waiting for Stephen and Hosuh to come b-"

"I'll take yours," Daniel interrupts straightly around the tissue.

Jay flinches, unprepared for the answer. He offered, and he can't take it back now. It'll be depriving him of an assistance. Gingerly, he taps the pills out into his palm and grabs the cup for him.

Before Daniel can take the cup, Jay pulls it back instantly,

"It's really strong, and it'll make you drowsy," He warns Daniel in a low serious voice, ensuring it's loud and clear to him.

Their eyes meet, and the way Daniel curls his lips is magnetic, Jay almost forgets to release the cup when Dan takes the pills in.

Sure enough, Daniel is sedated and completely lax in bed. Jay gently moves Daniel's hand under the blanket while Daniel mumbled incoherent sleepy words, giving Jay a softened stare and a subtle smile.

Jay looks away and does his utmost to distract himself from the stare.

"Stay with me until I fall asleep?" the request stops Jay in his tracks as soon as he has registered them.

"Of course," Jay whispers in a trance, sitting back and pulls the chair closer. Bravely, he puts a hand on Dan's head and strokes the back of Daniel's hair with his thumb, watching as the greenette breath begins to even out.

After a while, Jay takes his hand away and makes a silent prayer that he gets better when he wakes up.

"Je Suis là!" He hears a stupid voice call out from the front door along with bags rustling and grunts.

_If only they were 15 minutes earlier. _Jay huffs out an angry breath and leaves Daniel's side.

"Jay?" Hosuh greets him at the door, with shopping bags lined up on his lower arms. Behind him, Stephen doesn't bother greeting him at all.

"How did y- Oh, you must've used the key buried next to the brick," Hosuh softly fumbles with an explanation to himself.

"Yeah, totally," Jay concurs lightheartedly, whilst glowering at Stephen who finds the wall more interesting to look at.

"Hey, how are you?" Hosuh welcomes him properly, loosening the bags from his arms to give him a side hug.

"Well, Y'know, could have been better," Jay answers vaguely, returning the shorter male's awkward hug.

"Let me go get you a drink. Does tea sound good?" Hosuh kindly offers.

"Yep, tea sounds good," Jay tells him affectionately. When Hosuh leaves, Jay gives Stephen a deadpan look.

"A key buried next to the brick?" Jay repeats dully.

"Hey, I was sure you'll find a way to get in, anyhow look at you, you made it in just fine," Stephen retaliates, shrugging the hostility off.

Jay shakes his head in disbelief, "I despise you," ignoring the stupid laughter that comes after.

Checking his pockets, he frowns curiously at Hosuh's figure walking about in the kitchen and back to Stephen, who is stripping out of his jacket.

"I didn't know you guys have a surveillance camera," Jay hums, starting a new conversation.

Stephen stops moving in his tracks and a serious look cross his features.

"No we don't," Stephen frowns deeper, "Not that I know of."

Jay mimics his expression. Now that's strange.

Pulling the small black cube out of his hands, he shows Stephen the device he found.

Stephen snatches the device out of his hands, examining it thoroughly.

"We made a rule to tell everyone if we were planning to add anything to the house. So we should be aware of a _surveillance_ camera," Stephen tells him, strangely calm despite the entirety of it. His lips form a straight line.

"Where did you find this?" he asks.

"By the potted plants" Jay points out, frowning.

"Unless Dan, being the control freak that he is, thought we won't find out about this, he wouldn't have placed it there." He doesn't flat out agree to that, but the male has a point there.

"Especially when he knows there'll be hell to pay," Stephen also adds casually.

Jay put his hands into his jeans pocket. "It could be from Ho-" Stephen quirks an eyebrow at him and even he, retracts his words.

"Could be from one of your fans," Jay offers, it's probable since it was found outside and not in the house. Having said that, was there one in the house? If there was, it would have made the situation more dire.

What's their agenda behind it? They had to have one- people just don't do things without a reason.

Jay wasn't sure who was more unsettled at discovering the spycam, him, or Stephen; who snaps out of his thoughts when Hosuh walks out of the kitchen and a few steps closer into the room, holding a cup of tea towards Jay.

With both males gawking at him, Hosuh flinches at the oddness in their expression. "Is there something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" tilting his head along with the earnest question.

"No.." Jay speaks for the both of them and takes the mug.

Jay doesn't miss the way Stephen scrunches his face at the drink, he signals at him before he leaves his spot, to sweep out the house he presumes.

Hosuh's eyes flicker to Stephen and Jay nudges him, "Want me to help you put away the bags?"

"Oh no, it's alright," Hosuh replies dismissively, watching Stephen close his room door behind him.

"I'm starving, is there anything to eat?" Housh's eyes that were paused on the door, snap back at him, mortified.

"Shoot. I'm sorry, uhm.. Can I make you something? " Hosuh asks in worry.

Distraction a success. Jay follows Hosuh into the kitchen and they whip up something fast. Jay let Hosuh try his concoction and he is way more generous with his compliments than Daniel was with his drink. He is chased out to the living room to rest, under the scolding that he is a guest and shouldn't help with their chores.

Jay is lounging around the couch, playing a game on his phone when Stephen flops down next to him, causing him to almost step into an attack.

"There isn't any in the house," Stephen says curtly and Jay sighs, closing the game.

"There's one more thing," Jay says flatly before adding fuel to the fire, "A man was hanging around the house earlier when you two were out shopping."

"What? What man?" Stephen's shoulders stiffens up when he asks.

Jay shrugs, putting his phone down. Immediately, Stephen grows suspicious and gets up to pace around the room while Jay's eyes follow him. He pulls out his phone and turns towards him as he forcefully types out something on his phone.

"Was this guy someone tall, lean and had dark hair?" Stephen demands coldly.

"What?" Jay blurts, bewildered and mulls over the question.

Stephen looks for information online and he found the device on Amazon. It is available for same day shipping in their country. He curses.

"What did he look like?" He prods impatiently. Cursing, he slams down his phone to the lumpy cushion and drops back down onto the couch to get his temper under control.

"Cool it, hothead," Jay reminds him, "He was covered, I can't recall much. And you gotta act normal unless you want to throw the other two into a panic. Now, you wouldn't want that, do you?"

Stephen inclines his head back to indicate he's trying to calm down. He slaps a hand over his eyes and groans. "Maybe I do," he mutters darkly.

A blatant lie. Even Jay knows he doesn't have to call him out for it.

He feels bad for him, the trio has only just moved in and they have plenty of other shit to deal with.

"Look," Jay starts with his suggestion, "You can call the police-"

"No," Stephen interrupts coldly, "the person could have noticed the spycam is gone and go into hiding by now. The police wouldn't be able to find the culprit and it'll all be a dead end."

"You don't know that," Jay responds robotically.

Fluming, Stephen raises his voice, "Neither DO you, how-"

"Calm. Down." Jay cuts in, biting off each word with a voice that burns with equal cold.

Stephen scowl at him, eventually, he rubs his face with shut eyes and takes deep breaths.

"Why couldn't it be a hot girl or something?" Stephen grumbles, his words laced with distress and utter disappointment.

"Hey remember, the hotter they are, the crazier they are too," Jay reminds soothly.

Stephen glares back at him.

"What's this about a hot girl?" Hosuh strolls towards them.

"So, you guys finally found a girl?" Hosuh inquire suggestively, sitting next to his housemate, "Stephen? You know you can tell me, if you're not interested, maybe you could introduce her to me."

"Shut up Hosuh, I doubt she'll even date you," he bites sharply.

"Oh," Hosuh whispers in a tone that went straight to Jay's heart. Ouch, that itself was enough for Jay to fight down a prickled anger at Stephen.

A flash of guilt crosses the purple mohawk's face, only to be swiftly replaced with a straight face.

"I'll date you, Hosuh" Jay chimes in before Stephen could go any further with insults.

"Awh, but uh, no thanks." Hosuh makes a face and Jay gapes at the rejection.

Hosuh laughs and it was enough to wash the tension from the room.

"Hey, we have time to kill, you guys up for a game?" Hosuh asks enthusiastically.

"I'm down for DOTA," Stephen says, getting off the couch and ruffles his hair. "Oh but Ja-" Hosuh hesitates, "I brought my laptop along," Jay cuts in, throwing a thumb towards Daniel's room.

"Wow, you're prepared," Hosuh whistles, impressed.

"I'm prepared for anything darling," Jay smirks at him and Stephen rolls his eyes.

It was hectic, setting boxes around the living room to use it as a table. The game is worse, filled with rage, insults, and war cries, but it's fun. Hosuh left the game to prepare for dinner after he was done with two games. Leaving Jay and Stephen to carry the team.

"What the fuck. Uninstall the game fucking noob," Stephen curses, outraged.

"Get good, Stephen," Hosuh calls out from the kitchen. "I am good, don't _make _me trash you later," Stephen yells back.

Jay chuckles. A soft feeling sets in the orange-hair stomach. This feeling. It's just like when they were recording. It must be nice living together.

Hosuh returns with drinks and watches the game from Jay's laptop, laughing at them as they're trying to escape from supps. They do win the match in the end, by sheer luck.

"Get dunked on!" Stephen whoops, and a door clicks open behind them. Daniel steps out from his cave and Hosuh and Stephen cheers. Jay takes in the scene before him, and then, as though someone pulls a stop in a time machine, a sudden warm sensation radiates from every fiber of his being and he finds a glowing, intense sense of oneness with the occupants in the room.

It's a lighted moment and whatever is coming, Jay promises to stand together with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to be too rash in posting these chapters. Please forgive me for any mistakes.  
Your kudos and comments really motivates me, thank you all for that.
> 
> Have faith


	6. Breakfast Affair

An excellent idea struck him; Amongst the countless others that cross his mind. Ideas swim around his head like a school of fish while he lies in bed, yet he’d lost track of most of them already. Which is a shame, really. 

It is impossible to tell how long he has been lounging in bed, but Daniel knows that it was long enough to watch the dim room illuminate up with the morning sun flooding through his parted curtains. 

Rolling out of bed, Daniel stretches, the residing sleep cramp trudges out of his system. He must've slept too much yesterday because waking up at 7 is definitely not his usual morning.

At the corner of his eyes, his camera sits on top of a stack of school books. Patiently waiting, basically calling him at the table. He breathes deeply, every day is a new opportunity for a video, right? 

_Right,_ he can’t afford to be lazy.

Plucking his camera off the table, he opens his room door quietly, peeking through before sneaking out. He tip-toe past the snoozing male, who has taken over the couch and slips into the kitchen. 

Finding a strategically good spot on the marble counter, he sets the camera up. 

_Where should he start,_ Daniel muse, scanning the room for ideas. His eyes falls to the kettle. Something easy, he’ll start with that. Filling it up with ease, he flicks it on.

“I want coffee.”

Flinching, Daniel’s eyes pop in surprise at the sudden voice, turning around, he sees his friend leaning on the kitchen’s door frame.

Jay holds up a finger to cut in, “You aren’t as light footed as you think,” he says in a gruff voice, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

So much for a surprise, Daniel huffs out a thankful breath that he didn’t yell in shock and wake everyone else up.

“Water’s boiling, and I’m gonna make breakfast. Uh..” Dan scratches his cheek with a finger sheepishly, “I only know how to make eggs and toast.”

“Are you even well enough to be making breakfast?” Jay questions him, brows furrowing with full concentration on him.

Daniel checks himself, patting himself down and raises his palms up to the air, “Yeah, I’m a lot better now,” he vows with a thin smile.

Jay hums, after a beat, he proclaims, “I’ll like waffles.”

Did he- Did he not hear what he said? Whichever, Dan shuffles around the room and checks the cabinet under the counters. 

“Pretty sure we don’t have a waffle pan,” Daniel lever himself to his feet and turns back to him. “I can try pancakes?” he says. It shouldn’t be so hard, being a university student living away from his parents, he feels as though he should know how to make pancakes. He can surely handle it.

“But I want waffles,” Jay whines and Daniel ignores him, heading straight for the refrigerator. “Well that’s too bad, we’re having pancakes,” Daniel decides, looking through the packed shelves. 

He picks up what he needs, eggs, milk, butter, and a hand snakes up from his side to grab bacon and sausage.

Daniel hums in approval. He eases the door closed with a foot and spreads the goods out on the counter before going on a search for bowls, pans, and utensils.

The kettle clicks itself off and Daniel drops his task to make instant coffee for Jay, grabbing the new tea box from the counter along the way for himself. He does favor the one Hosuh got for him. 

Stephen pads into the kitchen, dishevel from just waking up. His eyes wander around the room and his gaze settles on the two males. He observes and goes strictly with the obvious, “Making breakfast?” His voice flat and gruff with sleep.

Damn. At least there’s Hosuh he could surprise.

“I want waffles,” Stephen demands and Daniel sputters, “What? Is this a thing? No, we’re not having waffles. We are having pancakes.”

Stephen and Jay share knowing glances and smirks for reasons Daniel can’t fathom.

“But waffles are obviously more superior.” Stephen claims. “Right,” Jay agrees as if it was a court hearing. 

Dan wants to tear his hair out. “No. We don’t have a waffle pan. We’re not having waffles,” he repeats in exasperation.

Stephen snorts, contented with leaning his back on the counter behind him, “Do you even know how to make pancakes?” he asks.

“No,” Dan admits, and a grin spread across his face, “But I bet I can make it better than you.”

Picking up on the challenge, Stephen raises an eyebrow.

“I’m not falling for that.” He makes a beeline out of the kitchen. Nevertheless, with years of experience, Dan easily grabs on to Stephen’s forearm before he can escape.

Visibly annoyed, “I can’t cook,” Stephen tells him, keeping the escape route in his sight. “Besides, there’s the two of you, I don’t see what more I could do.”

Amusement plays in Jay’s voice as he says in the background, “Oh, wait, I’m in this too?”

“It’s fine, you can still help out,” Daniel encourages, he leans forward, eyes bright, and subtly gesture towards the camera.

Stephen’s eye follows the trail the hand leads to and sees the device backed in between the corners of the wall. “Oh, you’re kidding me.” Stephen groans, massaging his temple. 

When Daniel didn’t budge from keeping him there, he resists the urge to yank his arm away and submits without any protest, “I need a drink,” he says petulantly.

“Tea?” Daniel offers and Stephen wrinkle his nose in distaste. “No,” he huffs, swiping a glass and got himself OJ from the fridge.

“So,” Stephen says, taking a big sip from his glass and stop to swallow before he went on. “Where do we start, Daniel? Enlighten us,” he quips as he surveys the collection of staples Dan has laid out.

“I think we need the batter first,” Daniel mulls, turning to the sink to wash his hands. “Jay, do you want to make the batter?”

“No, I want to cook the meat,” Jay says.

Daniel sighs good-naturedly, “Suit yourself,” he went ahead to grab the pan, and turn the stove on for Jay.

“Do you know how much flour we need?” Stephen asks, picking up the hefty packet and skims through the tiny text. 

“Nope,” Dan announces proudly, “Let’s wing it.”

“Wow, you and your ideas. This is going to end badly.” Stephen comments, resting the packet weight back down on the counter, “Do you have your phone with you?” he asks flatly. 

Daniel makes a sound that suggests a no and Jay shakes his head.

He sighs in annoyance. “So much for being Mr. Prepared,” Stephen scoffs. 

“And for that, I’m not going back to the room to take it,” Jay says pointedly.

Sighing, Stephen gives in and pour a good amount of flour in a bowl. “I guess that’s enough,” Daniel remarks, eyeing the bowl and proceeds to crack two eggs into it.

“Pretty sure you were supposed to crack those into a separate bowl first.” Stephen points out, stunned at his irrational action.

“Well, too late,” Daniel says. They stare pointedly at the bowl while Jay’s busy waiting for the pan to heat up. They exchange glances.

“Don’t give me that look, I don’t know what I’m doing either,” Stephen tells him, utterly unhelpful as always.

Are they suppose to use tools for this? What was it, a whisk? Or will a fork do? Uhm… 

Bravely, Daniel sticks his hand into the large bowl and starts mixing, he grimaces, it’s uncomfortable how it’s squishing in contact.

Stephen looks around the kitchen while Jay starts taking the meat out from its packaging. 

“Hey, since we’re all here together,” Daniel mentions with a messy hand in the mixing bowl, folding batter clumsily in the vessel. “We could push our recording forward and do it today.”

“Aren’t you already recording now?” Stephen counters, distracted by the condiments in the cabinet. “Hey, aren’t we supposed to add like baking soda and salt in?” Stephen directs the question at him. “Oh, yea,” Daniel mumbles in realisation but continue mixing anyways.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if the video will turn up any good,” Daniel admits bashfully.

“What? How dare you. Any video with me in it will be good.” Stephen gasps in mock offense and somehow manages to handle three baking ingredients in one hand as he turns back towards Daniel.

“Welp. There go my weekend plans.” Jay mutters, sipping on his coffee.

“Hey, what could be better than hanging out with us?” Daniel states.

“Not seeing your fugly faces, that for sure.” Jay didn't bother to acknowledge whatever mock looks the other two are giving him. 

“Well too bad, you’re stuck with us,” Stephen snorts in dismissal. “Yay,” Jay cheers stonily as he forks the sausages onto the hot pan. 

“How much of this am I supposed to put in?” Stephen asks, a tad louder to counter the sound of the sizzling pan, while holding up the jar of baking soda and a measuring spoon.

“There’s four for us, so let's go with four tablespoons,” Daniel suggests. 

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works but okay,” Stephen adds, carelessly throwing the powder into the bowl. Most of them got onto the back of Daniel’s hand, coating it white.

“Into the batter you idiot!” Daniel hisses loudly.

“You’re mixing with your hand! It’s the same thing!” Stephen rebukes louder.   
  
Involuntary, Daniel presses his lips together and stays quiet, if this goes on, they’ll wake Hosuh up in no time. So he gives Stephen a cold shoulder as a petty response. 

All in all, it was his suggestion to ask Stephen to help, and he shouldn’t get mad about it. His hand falters in the bowl to give Stephen some leeway when he’s about to add sugar and salt in. It still went all over his hand.

Stephen proves how playful he can get in the morning, messing around with other ingredients, clicking utensils together and tease him at every opportunity he gets.

“Oh, do we need milk too? I think we do.” Stephen insists, adding a splash of milk. It missed and the liquid got all over the table.

“What the heck! You are making a mess!” Daniel accuses, glaring at the purple mohawk male. Plain as day, the male doesn’t seem to care and makes no attempt to clean it up. Dan watches as white liquid flow over and dips down countertop to the floor. A hand sneaks pass his front to grab the salt. 

“Passing through,” Jay claims with amusement coated in his words. 

Suddenly, the kitchen is too congested for his liking. Is he allowed to feel this way? No. Yet, he didn’t care anymore.

Daniel smolders down his irritation into mixing, but with inexperience and repressed emotions, he’s doing a bad job at it. The batter got everywhere around the bowl, onto the already messy counter and maybe, he might need to pare down a bit.

“GG Daniel, that a huge mess you’re making. The table isn’t going to clean itself you know.”

Daniel clenches his hand into a tight fist in the sludge and his last thoughts were something along the line of "damn the consequences." Without hesitation, he flings a handful of batter towards Stephen’s face.

“There. Now there’s your mess,” Daniel trumpets smugly.

Stephen blinks, frozen in spot. He could feel the wet substance slop down from his hair to his shirt. It’s dripping down his face and the smell is not pleasant. He’s flabbergasted, completely lost for words except that, it. is. absolutely. disgusting.

When Dan realises what he has done, it’s way too late to take it back.

“Oh boy,” Daniel hears the male say beside him. He is about to apologise when a whole lot of white fills his vision and nostrils. Dan chokes at the white dust cloud and all he could taste is gritty white flour. 

Of course, conscience-stricken at that moment Stephen decides to hurl the ingredient, Daniel was not able to react on time and he stands there, completely shook.

“Oops,” Stephen smirks victoriously.

Dan’s hand finds the mixing bowl and he practically emptied the bowl on Stephen’s head. But he’d managed to get away with only a fully soaked shirt.  
  
Shaking his hand in fury, Stephen snatches the carton of milk off the table, he splashes it towards him, but he is quick to dodge. The male beside him isn’t. 

Daniel didn’t have to look back to know that the hitches of the other man's breath meant that he got into the line of fire. 

At that point in time, it dawned on Daniel that perhaps they have gone too far and he paled. And it isn’t from the flour coating him. It’s from absolute fear that Jay’s angry and might actually hurt them. 

Praying that he’ll have mercy on them, Daniel chokes out a nervous laugh before testing the water “Jay?” he gulps. 

As an answer, Jay grabs two eggs from the carton and breaks it on their heads, markedly adding to the ambient chaos.

The war is on. Daniel quickly snags a towel but it proves to be useless. The kitchen has become a battlefield and in this fight or flight situation, Daniel doesn’t seem to have a choice in that matter, seeing that the two** will not** let him get away. Moreover, he cannot allow the other two to overpower him, he will not, even at something as ridiculous as this. 

Utter chaos assures, they keep retaliating and there’s no end to it. Each strike begets two more and they have nothing but their own bodies as shields. 

“Ceasefire!” Daniel cries out, half-strangled, “Truce! Truce!” he repeats and the attacks halt.

Panting, they look at each other. Calling them dirty is an understatement. They are a mess, totally, and unconditionally covered in ingredients and are equally filthy. It’s truly a sight. An ugly sight. And the kitchen looked even worse, completely wrecked. 

They share a glance, hardly believing what they had just done.

Alarmed, Dan scrambles to check his camera and a smoky odor waft through the kitchen. Stephen race to turn the stove off before the smoke alarm starts blaring, while Jay takes the burning pan away and douse it in the sink.

Dan makes a huge sigh of relief. His camera survived, with only a smear of… egg white and a dying (but dry) battery.

With the steam of fight calming down, their agitated minds ploddingly turn coherent. All at the same time, they shook with suppressed laughter before it burst, blaring through the kitchen like a Sunday at the playground.

“Guys?” a voice brakes in. Frozen in place, the three of them turn to see Hosuh standing at the entrance of the kitchen with his jaw hanging out, completely horrified.

“What. the. Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this was made as an extra chapter, a filler you might say, but I brought the essence of it over to the next chapter. I hope you guys still enjoy this.
> 
> Thank you so much for influx of the comments and kudos, they really mean alot to me although I'm slow in the replies. I'm sorry about that. 
> 
> Remember what matters


	7. Drop in

“Hey,” Daniel says amidst of white puffs leaving his lips, “Thanks for coming over,”

Winter is rolling in. The chills make it abundantly clear as Jay pulls the collar of his jacket up to cover his exposed neck. Walking side by side, Jay’s lips tug up, facing the view of the neighbourhood before them. He tilts his head to the side in a lax way and Daniel interprets it as his own way of saying don’t mention it.

"Don't think Hosuh would be up to record today,” Daniel thinks out loud, “But, I'll still see you on Wednesday." It’s less of a question and more of a reassurance.

“You’re welcome to come visit anytime,” Daniel tells him sincerely, watching a colossal cloud cover the sun completely.

Amongst the naked trees and scattered orange leaves on the houses and streets, one can say that nature has taken over and Daniel can almost call the view scenic. Walking along the quiet road like this, with his shoes stepping on fallen leaves, it fills him with bliss. And he loves it. He loves this neighbourhood.

In a far distance, where a crossing street lies. Daniel sees a familiar figure.

Preoccupied with the person he recognised across the road, who’s slowly but surely making their way to them, Daniel abandon his friend and makes the effort to jog towards her.

“Hey, Granny! Good morning,” Daniel catches his breath and he blasts a big dopey smile. The elderly lady looks up and crumples her face before a sign of recognition flash across her smile.

“Ah Sonny, good afternoon. How are you?” The grandma halts in her path to greet back affectionately.

“I’m doing great, Granny,” he replies, glancing down at the bags in her hand. “Do you need some help with that?”

“Oh no Sonny, it’s okay,” a light-hearted laugh left her mouth. She does loosen her grip when Daniel holds out his hand in front of her own.

“I insist, oh-” He trails off when he realise that Jay isn’t by his side anymore. He looks around and finds that he’s nowhere to be found. Daniel scrunches up his nose in disappointment before tossing a smile back on his face for the lady in front.

He grabs hold of the bags and adjusts the handles in his hands before turning back around, towards the direction of their houses. Wordlessly, he leans over and sticks out his elbow for her.

“You’re such a sweet child,” she says, taking the joint for support. Daniel utters an aw-shucks, thriving on her compliments while he leads them to her house.

The walk is peaceful, serene he might say, with a few quiet chatters, “It's a nice neighbourhood,” she tells him, “The neighbours here help each other.”

The grandma, weak in the knees, had to use quite a bit of effort to climb up the steps to the door and Daniel wonders if it’s possible to build a handrail just for her.

“Oh, will you be home later? I want to bring over a gift,” the elderly lady tells him by the doorstep. Keys clank as they jiggle, she opens the creaking door and reveals a clean, orange hallway that’s filled with antique knick knacks, reminding him of the passing season.

In the background, there’s a sound of footsteps scurrying around in one of the rooms, and then, in the back, Daniel spies a small figure running out of the room door before immediately ducking back in when they saw that granny wasn’t alone.

A small head peeks out of door opening, it’s a young boy, spying at him. Daniel sticks his head out at an angle to let him have a better look. With good intentions, he offers a small wave to acknowledge him. The shy head retreats back into hiding.

Chuckling, it occurs to Daniel that he was distracted and he withdraws back to the question. “No it's okay grandma, you don’t have to get us anything,” he answers back earnestly.

“Nonsense, child, it’ll be a small welcome gift to the neighbourhood,” she insists.

Daniel didn’t harp on it, they exchange numbers and he leaves the house, relishing in the warmth from the interaction.

Back at home, he closes the door, shivering away the outside chill from his bones. He finds Stephen on the couch, reading his notes. Taking a quick glance at the connecting room, he notices the battered kitchen empty.

“How’s Hosuh?” he asks, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to get some heat going.

“I don’t know, he hasn't left his room,” Stephen drawls without sparing a glance at him, flipping his notes over to the next page.

Daniel sighs and lingers around the entryway. Against better judgement, he gravitates towards the dark oak door.

“No, don’t even think about that,” Stephen stops him without paying any attention to him, “Unless you _somehow_ muster up a good plan in that head of yours, you just have to give him time.”

Daniel holds a loose finger up, ready to counter, but hangs back. It’s difficult to admit, even to himself, that Stephen is right. Still, it’s so uncomfortable and agonizing to receive the silent treatment from Hosuh.

Taking his heed, Daniel drops his bravado and sighs, a tad heavier this time to show his exasperation. Instead, he veers his way to the couch and stands in front of the sprawl male. When Stephen makes no indication to make room for him, his eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“Give me some room,” Daniel huffs the request.

Reluctantly, Stephen moves a leg away but leaves the other sticking out. His eyes rolls and with a scoff, Daniel flops down and Stephen retreats his other before Dan crushes his left leg with his weight.

Pulling out his phone from his pockets, Daniel taps into social media. “Any ideas-”

“Just give him time,” Stephen repeats dully.

“What makes you think I was going to talk about Hosuh?” Daniel scorns, frowning when Stephen didn’t bother answering him.

_Ugh. This is frustrating._ Oh.

“What if we made him cupcakes?” Daniel suggests, and Stephen gives him the flattest, unamused look, flipping his notes over so hard that it almost tears the paper.

His phone vibrates and Daniel looks over at his notification.

_Yesterday_

_Annabelle: GET WELL SOON DAN! [8:03pm]_

_Today_

_Annabelle: So I heard you guys trashed the kitchen :o [12:35pm]_

Daniel smacks a hand to his face, dragging the heels of his palms down and sigh. His fingers played with the keyboard before sending a quick reply to her. Dropping the phone down to his lap, Dan leans back into the couch with an exasperated groan.

They did clean the kitchen up to the best of their abilities, it looks just as new. Also, they did say they were sorry. Why is Hosuh still angry?

His hands are still aching from the rigorous scrubbing he did. Trying to wrap his head around it isn’t going to make him stop ignoring him, so maybe he should do something else. ‘_Give him time,’ Stephen says._ But he can’t stop his train of thought from spiraling into scenarios he could try, or for distractions he can do to keep himself busy from this mess.

Ah, there’s still assignments waiting for him in the room.

Daniel doesn’t move from the couch to work on that. He’ll save it for later.

Instead, he taps open a game on his phone and gets himself immerse into it. After some time into the match, there’s soft knocking at the door. Frowning, Stephen shifts on the couch while he gets up to answer it.

“Hey, Grandma!” He exclaimed before his attention is drawn to the child hugging her thigh.

“Hi deary, I’ve made some food for all of you. I hope you boys like beef,” Granny tells him, holding up a chunky bag filled with bulky tupperware stack up on one another.

“Awh. Granny, you shouldn’t have,” Daniel takes the bag and offer his thanks on their behalf.

Redirecting his attention to the timid child, whos is about his knee’s height, he bends down to his level and greets, “Hi there,” Daniel coos, “What’s your name?”

The meek child peeks his head out and the elderly lady laughs, “This here is little Romy, he’s five,” The grandma tells him and nudges him forward, Romy clings harder. Hesitation danced in her expression before she starts, “I hope I’m not asking for much, but could you watch little’o Romy here for a while? I've errands to do and his parents aren’t home. I hope it won't be too much trouble.”

Surprised, Daniel absorbs the request in like a sponge and his brain runs a record-breaking speed to think if he’s even capable of taking care of a child. The boy eventually lets go and steps forward, gripping on his backpack straps as though it’s a substitute to his granny’s leg.

Stephen comes up behind him and Romy’s eyes widen at Stephen’s vivid hair. Daniel follows Romy’s curious gaze to his friend and bites back a smile.

“Oh, Granny, this is Stephen, my housemate,” Daniel introduces and Stephen steps up to shake her hand with a pleasant smile.

“Call me Granny, dearly. I like your hair,” Granny compliments and Stephen rakes a hand through his unruly hair in embarrassment.

“We’ll take care of Romy, no worries,” Daniel steps in with confidence, “How long will you be out?”

Pleased with the agreement, the grandma hums, “It shouldn’t be long, perhaps a couple of hours or so.”

“You can count on us,” Daniel proclaims heroically and Granny visibly shows her relief through her expression. She shoos Romy towards them.

“Be good, Romy. Grandma will be back soon,” the elderly lady says in gentle reminder. Daniel offers Romy a hand to hold but the child seems to solidify his grip on his backpack strap further. After several moments, Romy takes his hand, squeezing them as if his life depends on it.

“Thank you so much again, deary,” Grandma says before she left, leaving the affright child alone with them.

There, at their doorway, the two men are left staring at the child. It takes a heartbeat later before Daniel brings him in, away from the pricking wind and shuts the door.

As the door latches closed, Romy’s lower lip starts to tremble and Daniel can feel his palms start to sweat uncomfortably.

“Alright, first things first, stand up straight, I’m going to check for weapons,” Stephen calls out.

“Stephen!” Daniel exclaims in shock, pulling the child closer to him.

“It’s protocol,” Stephen says to the child, crouching down to his height.

With his hand in his, Daniel can feel the child quietly trembling. Romy’s breath is shaky and he can’t help but shrink back at the looming male. Daniel doesn’t know where Stephen is going with this and does he have enough faith in him not to scare the child all at once? Perhaps not. Nevertheless, Daniel lets go of the smaller hand and takes a step back behind Romy to keep a close watch.

“Arms out,” Stephen orders, and the scared child listens. Stephen pats Romy’s arms and lower leg down with a scary look. And then, out of nowhere, he starts tickling the kid, his expression changes from imposing to one of mischief as the kid frails and tries to get away.

Romy lets out little shrieks and squeals of laughter. Gone was the fear the child had. After Stephen showed mercy and the shrieks of laughter dies down, Romy smacks Stephen on his arms and runs to hide behind Daniel’s leg.

“Wow. I never thought I would see that side of you, Stephen,” Daniel admits, letting out a faint laugh, he is really impressed.

“Shut up,” Stephen says half-heartedly, getting up from the ground.

Hosuh emerges from his room and all three snap their attention to him. Hosuh has an impressive look on his face until his gaze moves from them to the child; in a blink of an eye, his stoic expression disappears and Hosuh’s curiosity got the better of him as he walks over and bends down to meet the kid. The child tries to bend in with Daniel's leg.

“Hi, I'm Hosuh, it's nice to meet you,” An engaging smile graced Hosuh’s face and Romy side step, peeking through the space between Daniel’s legs to gape at Hosuh with curious eyes.

“H-Hi,” Romy greets shyly, his voice high and nervous.

“Wow, he talks,” Stephen quips and the child hides behind Dan’s calf again.

“This is Romy and he’ll be staying with us for a few hours,” Daniel tells Hosuh and his expression pulls itself back into a solemn look as he eyed him from where he squats.

Daniel fights back the urge to cower. How is it possible that look could make him feel like cringing and squirming, he wonders. It’s a phenomenon.

“His grandma made us lunch..” Dan offers nervously. Hosuh’s cold expression was unwavering as he pushes himself up and saunters towards the kitchen without a word. Daniel is almost proud he didn’t flinch from the strange intimidation coming from Hosuh.

“Welp,” Stephen shrugs, breaking him from the moment, “Alright, house rules, you gotta remove your shoes,” he commands, pointedly at Romy.

The child hesitates and Daniel gently nudges him with his knee, "Quick, before he starts tickling you." Daniel whispers to him.

Immediately, the kid bends down to remove his sneakers.

Dan laughs, “Have you eaten, Romy?” he asks him and he nods his head.

Before they could even step foot into the kitchen, Hosuh shoots them a scathing glare and they immediately turnaround, dragging Romy away with them.

Finding other things to do, Romy doesn’t question why they’re gathering around cardboard boxes nor does he question when they said they're eating there. Good kid.

Stephen unravels the food tupperwave and a delicious waft fills the room.  
One contains what looks like beef roast pot and another was filled with Fusilli pasta drizzled with seasoning.

Hosuh comes out with enough plates, napkins, and cutlery for them, but he leaves again to make another round into the kitchen and returns with a glass of orange juice and a plate piled high with snacks. Daniel’s snacks.

Hosuh's gaze settles on the child while Daniel’s eyes follow the plate. He was saving those for later, his lips pursing as he regards Romy with pouty eyes. Romy doesn’t notice, locking eyes to the plate of snacks when it’s set in front of him.

“Romy-” Daniel catches the piercing eyes directed at him in his peripheral vision. Never mind. He shuts up.

Romy looks at him with curious eyes. Gingerly, he picks a bag off the pile and crawls over to his side, placing the packet on his lap with meek eyes and Daniel melts from the gesture. Romy can have all the snacks he likes, he doesn't care anymore.

“Here you go,” Hosuh pushes the orange drink towards him and Romy accepts it with a small thank you. Clumsily, as if the weight of the drink is too heavy for him, he brings the cup up to his mouth with a wobble and juice dips all over the rim and down the cup as well as the corners of his mouth.

Hosuh chuckles and takes a napkin to wipe the mess on the boy before helping him take the cup away. Daniel watches the scene unfold and he realise how much he thoroughly misses Hosuh’s mother-hen nature. He stashes that particular thought in a box and shoves it way back to the forgotten corners of his mind. Happy thoughts, Daniel. Give him time.

Stephen hands him a plate of food and Daniel stabs a fork into a baked potato and bites into it. His eyes widen from the glory of the taste. The potato was cooked soft and sweet, and he could taste spices on it that gives it the perfect kick. “This is so good,” he comments.

Romy brightens as though he’s been complimented. He hasn’t opened any of the snacks, instead, he's toying with one of the packets, entertaining himself with the bag of air on the flimsy table. Scooting over, Daniel pokes Romy on the side and he snickers when Romy squeaks at the contact.

"Hey Romy, do you want to look around the house while we eat?" Daniel suggests. Romy’s face twists to awe and nods. He carefully scoots himself away from the island of cardboard boxes and gets up to explore. Behind them, somewhere, they can hear the paddle of tiny footsteps moving away from them.

"Don't go outside!" Daniel calls out after him in between bites.

"Hope you didn't end up giving him any ideas from that," Stephen mutters, taking a bite of pasta.

Daniel glances back in worry as they eat.

“Do you even have any experience with children before?” Stephen asks incredulously after chewing.

Daniel rolls his eyes and titters at the question, “I’ve helped out in a children's church before, but that’s about the extent of it,” Daniel mummers the last bit. Stephen’s pupils seem to have rolled to the back of his head.

Hosuh haven’t said a word to them, he has been relatively quiet throughout, which was something he’s not used to. Hosuh’s always the one he talks to during meals.

Daniel clears his throat and manages to meet his housemate’s eyes. Stephen shoots him a telling look behind the fringe of his hair. His eyebrows furrow down, and his narrow eyes and his lip morph into a tight line, ordering him not to do whatever he’s about to do.

Before Daniel tries his luck at talking to Hosuh. Romy comes back with a light blue backpack, one that looks too big for him. He carries it too high on the zipper, practically dragging the carrier along the floor as he steps onto the carpet where they sat.

Perhaps this is a saving in disguise, Daniel swallows back the words that sit on the tip of his tongue. "What do you have there, Romy?" Daniel replaces the reserved question, disguising the undertone of a heavy heart with a light voice.

Hosuh props up, “That’s my bag.”

Daniel feels his blood runs cold, oh no, please don’t be angry about this, he begged internally. Please, please, please.

In his hands, Romy’s fingers curl around a piece of paper that looks like a graded report. He releases the blue bag and unfolds the paper to reveal a bunch of doodles on the other side of the supposedly blank page.

Romy clumsily points at a doodle with his index finger but his hand struggles to hold in one place, almost pointing all over the page before it gradually settles to the drawing he was referring to.

“A donkey?” Stephen blurts.

Romy frowns and stomps his feet down. “No.” he says, hoisting his own backpack up and over his shoulders and digs inside to pull out a colourful activity book. Carefully, he flips over to the third page and tries another approach to communicate to them.

It’s a rabbit.

“Oh,” Stephen says lamely and stifles a laugh when he notices Hosuh peeved expression.

Thank god, Hosuh doesn’t seem bothered that the child had just basically _raided_ his room. In relief, Daniel chuckles, “I was wondering what you had inside that backpack of yours,” Daniel says, sitting back, “What else do you have in there?”

Romy cocks his head to the side. He picks Hosuh’s bag back up and starts rummaging through them. Daniel’s eyes widen comically. Vaguely shocked and horrified when he tossed a file and papers out of the carrier. When Romy holds up Hosuh’s pencil case, he almost have a heart attack.

Scrambling to stop Romy, he halts when he hears a familiar soft laugh behind him. Daniel’s arms wheels around for balance and they saved him from eating a face full of carpet. Unfortunately, he did knock over his cardboard furniture and his plate crashes to the floor.

Hosuh steps pass him and pick up the scattered papers over the carpet. “Do you like drawing as well?” he asks as he gathers them together.

“Yea..” Romy says, watching him fix the papers back in order. “I like drawing too,” Hosuh says, affectionately. He looks over his belongings once more before turning to Romy, “I’ll show you some of my drawings later if you promise to show me yours,” he says warmly, holding a pinkie up. Romy’s eyes radiate as bright as the older male’s, he nods and wraps his pinkie around Hosuh’s.

Ruffing Romy’s wild curls, he slides the papers back into his bag and collects Daniel’s fallen plate and utensil on the ground before he trots to the kitchen, with both Stephen and his plate. Daniel didn’t realise they were already done eating.

“Are you going to stay there on the ground?” he hears Stephen ask flatly.

“Just let me be,” Daniel grumbles, his heart feels like a deadweight, anchoring entire weight down. Yet, he picks himself up and swipes a napkin from the bunch to clean up the floor.

Stephen watch the cleaning male from the couch. “I feel like I’m walking on thin ice right now,” Daniel mourns and Stephen raises an eyebrow, waiting for the other boy to continue.

“I just want Hosuh to talk to me again.” he admits, burdened by guilt. It'd barely been a day and he already misses the way Hosuh usually treats him. He really took it for granted, huh. Dan dumps the fallen food into a trash bin and joins the purple mohawk male on the conch. Romy leaves his bag on the ground and climbs up to sit next to him. Somehow, that companionship gives him comfort.

On the sole of his feet, he can feel the vibration of footsteps walking towards him.

Daniel keeps his head down and a plate of food is shove towards his chest. His head shot up and when his eyes meet Hosuh’s, the pale eyes relents it’s glare. Daniel perks considerately at the wavering hostility, accepting the plate.

This time, seeing Hosuh walk away from him doesn’t feel as painful as before.

Listening to the clanking plates in the kitchen, Daniel toss Stephen a million-watt smile, woofing down the food in glee.

“_Give him time,_” he mocks, “Looks like he’ll forgive me before you.” Dan pulls a shit-eating grin out at Stephen.

“Shut up, Daniel,” Stephen glowers and Daniel snickers at the response.

Romy, watching them interact, tries to join in, "Shut up, Daniel!" he yells.

Daniel gasps, covering Romy’s ear with his hands, “No, no. No,” he gives Stephen a scolding eye, “Forget what you heard. Don’t listen to the mean man,” he tells Romy.

Apparently, Romy finds this all to be especially funny because he is full of giggles. “What’s shut up?” Romy happily asks in wonder.

“Uhh…” Stephen says in the background. “It means to be quiet, but in a bad way,” Daniel explains, “You mustn’t use it.”

Stephen doesn’t interject, seeing that Dan seems to be doing fine covering up his mistake. Rather, he looks away, resting his nose on the skin between his thumb and forefinger as he sighs at ease.

“I think that calls for a punishment, don’t you think Romy?” Stephen can hear the creeping smile from Daniel.

Just as he’s about to look back, Dan jumps on him with a grin, his eyes flashing deviously. Hands attack his sides and stomach ruthlessly, dancing across his abdominal where he hates it the most.

“Come on, Romy, help me out,” Daniel calls out.

Romy has no issues taking revenge, getting so into it that Daniel retracts his hands and let him do the work. Stephens lets Romy have an upper hand as he gets on top of him, but he doesn't let him overpower him, blocking his petite hands when necessary.

“Okay stop! Stop!” Stephen pleads, fighting for a chance to escape. Devilishly, Daniel holds his legs down to keep him there, and physically, Stephen finds no way out without the means of someone getting hurt.

“What’s that? What's the magic word?” Daniel taunts, full of stifled smiles.

"Fuc- Please alright? Please." Stephen yells in mercy. Daniel laughs in triumph and lets go, smiling wider than ever before.

Suddenly, Romy is lifted off Stephen. With the young boy in his arms, Hosuh shakes his head at his friends, trying to remain stern and impassive, only to fail miserably with the poorly hidden smile on his lips.

A grin spread across Daniel's face, this is his chance. He takes in a deep breath and a string of vibration from his phone interrupts him. Daniel frowns down at the interfering device until he takes a glance at the caller ID. Excusing himself with a low mutter, he leaves the area with the phone and tap on the screen to answer it.

“Jay?” the rest of the conversation drowns out when Daniel strides into his room.

Romy deflates as Daniel leaves whereas Stephen silently cheers, panting against the cushion and tries to collect himself. His stomach aches from the harsh treatment.

“Ready to show me your artworks?” Hosuh asks, Romy nods with excitement.

Hosuh heaves Romy up in the air, squeezing a giggle out of him before placing the boy back on the hard surface. Romy finds a space on the carpet and with crossed legs, he pulls out an activity book and colorful papers out of his backpack.

He shows Hosuh what's in his bags like it shows and tells while Hosuh settles in front of him and actively listens.

“Guys,” Daniel catches their attention, “I’m heading out for a bit, Jay left his earpiece and he wants it back,” he tells them, tossing a cleanly wrapped earbud in the air and catches it nonchalantly, tucking them into the pockets of his sweatpants.

“Look after little Romy for me! I’ll be quick,” Daniel tells them with the undertone of guilt in his voice. He does a double-take at them before he disappears.

Hosuh sighs softly through his nose. Romy seems bothered by the absence of Daniel’s presence, his excitement visibly down by half with his small figure slumping down from where he sits, fiercely chewing on his lower lip as if he wants to protest.

Hosuh gives him time to say something but he doesn’t.

"Do you like bunnies?" Hosuh asks, filling the silence, voice soft and lilting.

Romy brings his head up and nods. Hosuh swipes a sheet of paper and places the end of his marker’s cap between his teeth to pluck it open. With skilled hands, Hosuh effortlessly draws. With smooth motions that doesn’t falter until he completes the drawing. Then he picks up another paper to draw something else, two wolves, Stephen spies from where he lay.

As if it’s a habit, Hosuh puts the cap back by stabbing the felt tip pen, which was, if Stephen might add, too close to his mouth, with ease.

"Look," Hosuh holds up a paper with a caricature of himself as a bunny. "This is Bun," he introduces. Then with another hand, he pulls out the drawings of two wolves, one that looks like a combination of Daniel and Stephen’s persona.

“And these are bad wolves, who likes to destroy houses,” Hosuh tells him in a low deep voice, setting a mood to this impromptu tale. Fully invested in Hosuh’s narration, Romy watches in mild terror when the wolves inches closer to Bun.

Out of nowhere, Hosuh uses the fist that clutch onto the drawing of Bun, to crush the papers of the wolves, pulverizing the drawings into puny folds. Romy bounces back and giggles in glee, it manifests when Hosuh hands him the drawing of Bun, “Bun is strong and he is now your friend too,” Hosuh tells him.

“Err… Hosuh, is there something you wanna tell me?” Stephen asks, carefully.

Choosing to ignore him, Hosuh goes back to monitor Romy and keeps to his promise, sharing his own works too.

From his bag, Romy pulls out a lined A4 notebook and sets it on the cardboard top. Flipping to an empty page, he starts doing little squiggles with a line and Hosuh watches in fasciation.

“Are you writing, Romy?” Hosuh asks, peering down at the indistinguishable penmanship.

“Yes,” Romy says in deep concentration in his task. Right after his pen stops moving, he presents the writing rather proudly to the two, telling them with bright eyes to read it.

It’s near impossible to.

A nervous laugh slips out between Hosuh’s breaths as he rubs at his chin. Tossing a glance at Stephen, who now sits up, he looks as clueless as he was.

After an uncomfortable moment, Romy points towards the beginning of the sentence, “It says, Romy plus Bun,” Romy tells them.

“Ahh…” Hosuh fillers as he racks his brain for something to say.

Leaning forward, Stephen picks up a pen from the ones Romy has, “Come here,” he says, with such a gentle voice that it burns into Hosuh’s being. He makes an indication under the writing and starts stabbing the paper with the pen, inking the lined page with dots shaped in the Alphabets that spells out ‘ROMY’.

“Try connecting the dots, like this,” he traces the dots together and they form the letter R. Stephen slides the paper back and prompts him to try with a look. Romy follows Stephen's instructions with compliance and drags the pen across the paper, Stephen makes soft directions as Romy scribbles more words and evidently, starts writing.

"You're really good with kids," Hosuh suddenly says, fondly, “You’ll make a great teacher,” he adds, almost as an afterthought.

That statement was so unexpected that Stephen’s tongue tangled with itself and he forgets to turn the words back around with wit. He tears his gaze from the pale, blue orbs and instead stares at Romy’s writing like they’re the most interesting things he’s ever seen in his life.

Well, it may not be, but it was something really cute. It reads,

_Romy + Bun + Danail + Hosa + Steven_  
_Fiends_

“I’m back,” Daniel announces, flinging the front door open so wide it almost slams into the wall. He mummers something along the lines of “Did you miss me? I’m sure you did,” and takes a seat next to Romy and starts marveling at the drawings.

After a few oohs and ahhs, they quietly watch the child colour his bunny doodle with one of Hosuh’s coloured pens.

"Hey, his grandma is really taking her time to come back," Daniel says almost abruptly as he checks the time on his phone.

Stephen winces when Romy drops the pen and snaps his head up. Daniel wonders if maybe he should’ve kept his curiosity to himself and silently curse when Romy’s eyes turn beady. Crap.

Daniel crouch down, eyes soft at the distressed child. “Hey Romy, it's okay, I'm sure she'll be back soon,” he placed a reassuring hand on his shoulders, “In the meantime, let's play a game."

Daniel taps on his chin with his index finger thoughtfully before he makes a suggestion.

“Hide and seek?” he asks.

Romy sniffles and nods. The other two have no say in this, looking at Daniel to continue with compliance.

“Alright, I’ll be the seeker first. I’ll go into the room and count to 15,” Dan points to the spare room. Here’s hoping Romy cheers up, Dan makes his way into the room and faces the wall.

Palms to his eyes, he starts counting “1… 2…” He can hear footsteps scurrying away from the living room.

“And 15. Ready or not here I co-” There in the living room, Stephen is sprawl over the couch, back to reading his crumpled notes.

“You know you’re part of the game right?” Daniel questions him dryly, leaning his chest on the back of the couch.

“Yeah, but I figured there’s no way to hide from your bullshit so…” Stephen waves off boredly.

The greenette stares him down with a flat look before he turns the other way to find the other two. Stephen glances at the disappearing figure of the other male’s back for a few seconds before he went back to his own business.

"Romy, where are youuu?" Daniel calls through the house, in a sing-song voice. The kitchen seems empty, but he does a sweep anyway. Turning into his room, something tells him that someone’s hiding in here.

He had been looking under the bed when his ears perk up at a bump coming from inside the closet.

Creeping his way to the wardrobe, he swings a door open and finds Hosuh, and down behind the shorter male’s legs, he could see Romy huddling behind in an attempt to slip his attention.

Chuckling, he side step aside and lets Hosuh get out. He closes the closet door, pretending he didn’t already see Romy inside. Waiting by the closet, Daniel gives it about 10 seconds before he opens both closet doors with contrived enthusiasm.

“Found you,” Daniel exclaims, and Romy squeaks in surprise.

"That was great, Romy, you hid so well," Daniel compliments as they exit the bedroom, and their eyes fall on the two in the living room.

“Stephen lost, so he’ll be the seeker this time,” Daniel says, jabbing Stephen on his side and smirks when he jumps.

“Fine,” Stephen grumbles, casting his notes aside and makes his way into the spare room.

“I’m counting!” Stephen yells in the room and they scatter.

It’s been more than 15 minutes, it has to be, even though he didn’t keep track of the time. Daniel checks the blinding display of his phone for the time and decides to wait another minute. Time’s up, he removes himself from Stephen’s closet and walts outside to an empty living room.

In the kitchen, under the dim sunlight that descends from the window, Stephen stands by the sink, watching the neighbourhood with a glass of water in his hand. “You’re kidding me.” Daniel says in disbelief, “Did you even make any effort?”

Stephen raises the glass to his lips, sparing him a glance as he shrugs.

Daniel makes a hearty sigh, “Fine. I’ll look for the others,” he says, throwing an inscrutable look at Stephen’s direction. Daniel starts in the living room and he didn't even need to look to know that Stephen’s following him, his lazy footstep already gives him away.

As time goes by, anxiousness eats away at him. They searched their rooms, even Hosuh’s, and they couldn’t find any of them. Where the heck.

“Alright, we give up! You can come out now!” Daniel yells, calling it quits.

Hosuh emerges from the back yard and Daniel tunes out the sense of deja vu with worry when Romy doesn’t appear.

“Where’s Romy?” He asks, Hosuh cocks his head to a side and raises his eyebrows, picking up on Daniel’s panic. There’s a deafening silence and a hundred of haunting questions sent through Daniel’s green eyes, Hosuh swallows a lump in his throat and shakes his head.

Daniel runs a hand over his face, eyeing their moving boxes that piled haphazardly over their house and he sets into panic mode.

"Stephen, what the fuck. What if he suffocates in one of these boxes?! What if he left the house?!" Daniel usually doesn't let his emotions just the better of him but this situation calls for it and he needed an outlet.

"Okay, Calm down.” Hosuh says sharply. It’s enough to catch his attention and he stops in the middle of his hysterical rant, his eyes darts up to Hosuh with overwhelming alarm.

“He couldn't have left the house. He can't reach any of the doors or the windows, and they were all locked.” Stephen reasons, stooping down Romy’s height and reaches half his arm out, it poises at the closest doorknob. "Oh, maybe he can," he says rather nonchalantly.

“Okay, let’s believe for a second that he’s still in the house. He has to be here somewhere. Let's take a look around." Hosuh says with trepidation.

In the midst of tearing the living room apart, his agitation increase. "Where the hell can he be. Could he-” 

“Don't over think, Dan. We'll find him,” Hosuh reminds him and Daniel looks like he’s about to have a mental breakdown. They yell for Romy around the house as they set off to their room.

Guilt writhe under Stephen’s skin and he tastes something sour in his throat as they do a thorough sweep in their bedroom. Behind their curtains, under the bed, and in their closet. There’s no signs of Romy in their bedroom.

"Not in here!" Daniel calls out and Hosuh did the same thing, “Not in here too,” “Nope,” Stephen tells them.

Leaving no time to waste, Hosuh takes off to the kitchen, while Stephen checks the spare room and bathroom. Daniel squats down on the living room floor, scanning the place once more when he notices a hidden cardboard box in the corner that wasn’t flipped over in his haste to find Romy.

Gingerly, he moves towards it, setting all his hopes on the box. Easing it open, all his worries wash away, there he is, napping soundly. The terrible burden on his shoulders left him feeling contented as he crumples back down. “He’s here,” he calls out, he doesn’t care if the others heard him or not. “He’s here.” he echoes in a whisper as an extra bolster of reassurance to calm the excess anxiety away.

The boy is a little too big to cradle him like an infant, yet he tries his best to bridal carry him without him stirring awake. As if on cue, there’s a soft knock on the door. Hosuh answers it and exchanges pleasantries with Romy’s grandma as he carries Romy over to her.

“Grandma,” Romy slurs awake, and Daniel eases him to the ground. Sitting on the balls of his feet, Daniel offers a sweet, tired smile as he adjusts Romy’s sweater down and helps him with his shoes. Stephen comes up to his side with his backpack and pats Romy on the head.

“Come over and play with us? We’ll play another game next time” Daniel says, zipping Romy’s jacket up. Romy keeps his eye contact with his, "Thank you mister Daniel." his voice sings, more befitting the young boy that was so timid earlier.

They send Romy off, and just like that, their weekend is ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truly hope you guys like this lengthy chapter, I'm sure there's mistakes I've missed out but I re-read it so many times I think I'm getting a headache from it. Personally, I'm pretty upset by how it turned out but I'd worked on this for so long, I can't bare to scrape it.
> 
> It's 7 December at where I'm at so, Happy Birthday Hosuh


End file.
